Home Sweet Home: Boulder
by 4eva-xo
Summary: *SEQUEL TO SECOND CHANCES* Emily's back and so is Damon. What will happen? Who else will make an appearance in Boulder? What happens when Kaylie meets an ex from five years ago? New story, NEW DRAMA, NEW CHARACTERS. and so the drama unfolds.
1. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

**Chapter 1**

_Kaylie's POV_

I was just finished texting Emily. She's back. Emily is back. It's great to have her back but she's trying to convince Sasha to let her practice gymnastics again. Sasha would never let her but it's her choice. We tried to talk her out of it. We can't stop her now. My phone started to vibrate; I picked it up and looked at the caller ID. It's Austin. But it's so early in the morning. I picked up.

"Hello?"

"_Morning, sunshine," _he replied.

"Why'd you call me so early? Did you just want to say 'sunshine'?" I teased.

"_You know me well. So what's your plan for today?"_ he asked me.

"Umm…it's Sunday and parents aren't home. Might as well just chill and see you later."

"_Me? Only me? I feel special."_

"I meant with everyone else."

"_Alright. See you,"_ after saying that he hung up.

Well plan set. I stood up and went to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a soda. I didn't know what to say to Emily about Sasha's opinion of her returning to gymnastics when she can't. I took out my phone and start texting Emily.

_Em, you need to stop obsessing over the fact that you can't do gymnastics. Sasha won't ever let you back in. I'm sorry I'm being harsh but it's the truth. I can't be dragged into something like this. A lot of things have happened since you left. If you go to train again, I want nothing to do with it. Sorry._

I was about to hit the sent button but someone rang the doorbell. Guess this text has to wait until after this. I rushed to the door and opened it. It's an unexpected surprise. Young. Damon Young. My jaw hung open.

"Hey, Kaylie," he smiled.

I didn't know he was back in town. Emily didn't even tell me about, "Damon, you're back. Since when?"

"I just came back. I came straight here first."

Me? Where do Emily and Cassie fit in all this mess? "Really? Thanks but shouldn't you be seeing Emily first, not me?"

"Yeah but I don't want to visit them yet. I want to stop by and say hey," he's making excuses.

"Well you did that already so bye?"

"Right. I'll see you. You're looking good, Kay," he smiled and I smiled back.

I hope he keeps this quiet if he wants Emily and Cassie in his life. For Cassie's sake.

_Damon's POV_

Emily would kill me if she realizes I came to Kaylie first. Maybe I shouldn't tell her that I came to Kaylie first. Yeah, that's what I'll do. But I can't lie to her like that. I can't lose Cassie but if I don't tell her then I will. Might as well tell the truth before Cassie loses both of us. I'm going to head to Emily's. I walked to her house and am still thinking about whether I should tell Emily or not. Thinking long and hard about what I'm about to say. I passed Lauren's house. Lauren, I remember her. She was always the bitch. The "bitch of the beam" like Emily always said. Emily really hates her. Lauren, on the other hand tried to sabotage everything Emily tried to do.

I kept on walking, hoping not to run into the "bitch of the beam". Passing Payson's house, Payson. She was different than all of them; they all cared about hair and clothes but not Payson, Emily either. Emily, she wasn't like Lauren or Kaylie either. But I fell for Kaylie.

I reached at Emily's and knocked on the door. Of course she answered it. She smiled and hugged me and told me, "I can't believe you're here. When did you arrive?"

"I landed and went straight here," I lied, "Where's Cassie?"

"She's sleeping. Please, don't wake her up, it took forever to get her to sleep," Emily begged me.

"I won't. Em…" I began.

"She misses you. I miss you and thank you," she interrupted.

"Thank you? For what?"

"For being there, telling the truth. Standing by us."

Oh. Ah, crap. She played the "truth" card. That just made me feel guiltier. What am I going to do? Should I tell her? I guess if there were a time to tell your girlfriend that you visited someone you feel for before her, this would be the time. "Your welcome but I need to tell you something. I lied."

"Pardon?"

"I lied about coming here first. Truth is I didn't," I confessed. What will she say to this?

"Where did you go before you stop by?" I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Kaylie's."

"KAYLIE'S?" Shit.

_Emily's POV_

Did he just say Kaylie's house? He went there first? Why would he do that, didn't he know better? I can't do this right now. If he wants to be with Kaylie and not us then that's his problem and choice. But he told me that he would stand by me through it all. When Cassie was born that was perfect. I love Damon and I'm sure he loves me back but does he love me now? I'm having second thoughts about this. Time to face the music.

"Why Kaylie's?"

"Because I had to tell her something," he told me straightforwardly. Wow, so this time you decide to be straightforward? Thanks for nothing, Damon.

"That something must be 'I still have feelings for you,' am I right?"

"Yes…but…" he confessed. That's it. That was the final straw. I can't stand any more of his bullshit. It's over between us.

"There's no BUT Damon," I interrupted him, "There's your future family and there's you and Kaylie."

"There are both, Em."

"Both? There are no both!"

"YES THERE IS! I loved you and I love Kaylie." Wait. He _loved_ me. As in "loved". As in past tense love? What the hell did he just say?

"Loved? Damon, that's past tense. Are you trying to tell me that you _love _Kaylie now? As in present tense love?" He _loved _me and that's it. How about Cassie, _our _daughter?

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I think that's exactly what you meant," I challenged.

There was a moment of silence between us. I think I'm done with this crap. Damon loves Kaylie now and not me. I don't think we should even be together. I know we shouldn't be together. We should have broken up when I heard about Kaylie and Damon kissing. I shouldn't even let him get involved in Cassie's and my life.

"Well since you_ love_ Kaylie. We're over."

"I love you, too. But since you put it that way, I meant _loved_, sorry."

"I know, you made it very clear. Now I'm making it crystal clear. You and I are over. I…I want you out of my life…" I began.

"I deserve that but…"

"…And Cassie's."

"Not Cassie's. I have the rights to be in her's. I'm her father!"

"Well I'm her mother. You should leave and never come back. Go find Kaylie and tell her about your touchy little idiotic feeling!" I yelled at him.

_Damon's POV_

I can't believe she banned me from Cassie. I get that she's her mother but I'm half of Cassie, I'm her father. That I'll deal with later. I need to get to Kaylie's. I need to tell her everything I feel and hope she will accept this. I will be there for Cassie, not for Emily and I, but for Cassie. Kaylie is my life now. I arrived at Kaylie's. I rushed to the door and before I could ring it I quickly sent a text to Emily that I was sorry for messing our relationship up but I'll always be there for Cassie. I pressed the doorbell.

"Kaylie open up. I need to tell you the truth," I mumbled to myself.

_Kaylie's POV_

Chuck Bass is cute but he's a bad boy. I can't believe Blair would go for him. I never thought in a million years that they would end up together, like _together,_ together. Not just together. The bad boy with a powerful and popular girl? Sounds interesting. Almost like Austin and I. But really, Serena needs to get herself together. She's dating all the good-looking guys anyway. Aaron the hot artist. She totally blew that and he was hot. Even Carter Baizen! He was really cute and…

_Ding Dong._

What now? Chuck and Blair are heading to a party. No one misses a Waldorf party. I headed to the door once again. Opening it and there Damon was…again.

"Damon? Again?"

"Emily and I broke up and I wanted you to be the first to know."

"Come in," I invited.

We both sat on the leather sofa that my dad just replaced after mom left. I turned off the TV and there goes my lunch plan. He ruined my lunch. I was having Caesar salad and watching Gossip Girl. What does he want besides ruining my lunch?

"How come?"

"I told her about coming here first and…" he began.

"What? How could you say that to her?" I couldn't believe that.

"I had too. I couldn't lie to her and to you."

"Lie to me? About?" I was getting curious.

"About how I feel."

"How do you feel about me?"

"I said to Emily that I love you. Now I'll say it to you. I love you, Kaylie," he confessed.

No. This cannot happen! There was Nicky and Brad, no more. Especially not with Damon, Emily's ex. Emily still loves him and they have a daughter, too. Drama. More drama. Does it ever go away?

"You cannot do this to me! Don't say 'I love you' when you don't mean to say it. OR EVEN MEAN IT!"

"I DO MEAN IT KAYLIE! Sorry, I do. I'm not taking it back," he yelled.

"You might love me but I don't."

"Why? You kissed me and now you're denying it?"

"I'm not but please, don't remind me," I begged.

"You don't like it, I get it. I should go. Give me an answer tomorrow about 'us'?"

"I liked the kiss but that was, like, 10 months ago. It's in the past. Get over it. And yes, please leave. And no."

"No? You don't want to be us to be together? I'm Damon Young, a rockstar," he smiled.

"I see you watch Gossip Girl, too. But it's still a no and that's final. Let's drop this."

"Alright. But hey, I don't watch Gossip Girl."

Damon left and in perfect timing my phone rang. I'm popular today. Emily is calling. Another drama has been attracted to me. "Shit happens, deal with it," Austin would always say to me.

"Em!"

"_Kaylie, Damon and I broke up. I bet you already know," _she told me.

"I heard. I'm sorry, Em. I don't know how to make thing better. I had a pretty bad day myself."

"_Damon told you, probably, that he loves you and not me. I also banned him from seeing Cassie."_

Oh. No. What have I done? I made three people's lives fall down the well today. I have to make this better for Emily, even if it's just one person. Emily is, used to be, one of my best friend. Is she still my best friend? I have no clue.

"Why would you do that to Cassie? Damon's her father and she's going to need one in the future. But, for your information, I said no to 'being together' with him. I did it for our friendship, if there still is one."

"_Our friendship means a lot to me, Kaylie. But about the situation with Cassie, I'm her mother and I know Damon is her father, but I went through 9 months of pregnancy, not him." _

"But he's still Cassie's father, Em. Damon might love me but he still means a lot to you, doesn't he?" I asked her.

"_He does. After I dumped him, he text me and told me about how things were," _she began. _"He told me that before he kissed you, he loved me, a lot. He loved me for so many things. But you both had a connection that he felt and it's because of your talent in singing. That's why he felt bad for kissing you and that's why he went with me to Vegas and dropped his career. He didn't do it for me, but for Cassie. When he saw you again those feelings came back. I don't blame him. Who doesn't fall for Kaylie Cruz?"_

Yeah, who can? I guess it's still my fault and she's giving me hints about this.

"Guys don't always fall for me. It's just complicated."

"_Yeah, guys don't fall for you, huh? Okay, let's recap. There was Carter, Nicky, Brad and, of course, Austin. Now Damon Young. Who else is pinned on your sleeves?"_

"Emily, I'm not like Serena van der Woodsen. I'm not anything like her," I tried to convince Emily.

"_Really? Save it Kaylie. We were friends, but now, I don't think so. Just to let you know, to me, you're everything like her." _

"Em…" I tried to talk to her but she hung up on me.

My friendship with Emily is now down the drain. Austin will find out about this soon. Either from me or even from Emily herself. God.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> okay! So we hope you enjoyed this chapter! New story, new drama, new characters! :D

please **_REVIEW!_****_ xx_**


	2. SHE'S NOT MINE

**Chapter 2**

_Damon's POV_

Emily is keeping me away from my own daughter. Staying at Austin's house doesn't make it any easier. Living with the bad boy, it's like he's going to kill me. He doesn't know me but maybe he should. I really need to talk to a guy about Kaylie anyways and Tucker seems close to her so maybe he can help me. I need to know how to win her affection. It won't be easy but it's Kaylie, Kaylie always get the guy and I'm _that_ guy this time round. She's single so she has no worries. Perfect timing.

"Austin, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, man. What's up?"

"It's about Kaylie."

"What? What about Kaylie?" he seems surprised.

"I can't stop thinking about her. She's all I think about now. I love her and I want to make her see that so she can finally be with me. Obviously, you know that we kissed before I left with Emily," I began.

"You did? I mean…uh…sure."

"Right…well we have a connection and I want to show that to her. Plus, she's single."

"Single? I wouldn't say she's exactly single..."

What the hell is he talking about? He's kidding, in this situation? "Don't kid with me Tucker."

"I'm not but carry on," he insisted.

"Well that's it. I want to be with her and I know she does, too. We both talked about it," I told him.

"You guys talked, huh?" Why is Austin giving me these weird looks? I have no idea.

"Well we didn't exactly talk. It was more like: I talked and she listened. But I love her. Everything about her, like her hair, it's beautiful in the sun."

"Her hair, very beautiful," he mumbled.

"When she does gymnastics, it's like watching Swan Lake."

"Great…" he mumbles again.

"You stare into her eyes and it's full of hope and it's gorgeous," I explained.

"Wow. Interesting," mumbles again.

"Tucker, why are you such a party pooper?"

_Austin's POV_

Why am I such a party pooper? I'm her boyfriend you dumb shit. Single? Single my ass. You're talking to her badass boyfriend. The one that can kick your ass if I want to and probably knock you out. Her eyes are full of hope, yeah, I would know. You know why? I look into them every-fucking-day. She does gymnastics and it's like watching Swan Lake? Yes I would know. One, because I train with her and two, CAUSE I'M HER FUCKING BOYFRIEND!

Then I hit reality, "Party pooper?"

"Yeah, I was talking about how great Kaylie is and you just destroy everything."

"Sorry, man. I don't want to poop all over your description about my girl…I mean Kaylie. But are you sure it's really necessary making Kaylie yours?"

"Of course it is. What's your problem?" He didn't seem to notice my slip up when I said 'my girl'. What. An. Idiot.

"Nothing, it just feels like you're trying too hard."

"Trust me, I'm not."

Without another word he left and headed upstairs. I've got to talk to Kaylie about this. She didn't tell me the most important news this week. Even bigger than Damon coming back and Emily having a daughter. That's just the biggest news I heard. I pressed number 2 on speed dial for Kaylie's number. I placed the phone by my ear and waited.

"_Hey, handsome," _she greeted.

"I just talked to Damon and a very interesting topic came up. Guess what it was. You."

"_Me? What did you guys talk about? How pretty I am?"_

"Kay, don't kid with me right now. Not the time. Did Damon tell you that he loves you?" I asked.

"_How did…never mind. Yes he did. He confessed yesterday. Emily and Damon broke up and…"_

"I know they've broken up but you didn't plan on telling me about Damon and you?" I was getting pissed off.

"_Sorry. I didn't think it through, it was a stupid idea, okay?"_

"The stupid thing is that PIGHEAD is confessing his love to _my _girlfriend."

"_Don't call him that."_

"You're defending him now? Are you planning to tell me that you and Damon kissed?"

"_Why are you gaining up on me with all these questions, Austin?" _

"I'm not. I just want to you to tell the truth, at least to me."

"_I just want to…"_

"To what? You know what? No. Save it, do what you got to do. I don't want to be involved anyway."

"_Are we breaking up?"_

Are we?

"No. Just not talking till your done with Damon Young. Cause I know I am."

_Kaylie's POV_

What? Not talking? But it's not what it looks like; I don't love Damon Young. I love Austin Tucker. We didn't break up and I don't want us to, but Damon is a great friend of mine. I have to choose between Austin Tucker, my boyfriend or Damon Young, my friend and my former best friend's ex? I guess I choose…

_Zzzzz. Zzzzz._

My phone was vibrating. I picked up the phone and looked at the Caller ID. It's Damon. Timing is such a bitch sometimes. I pressed the answer button and placed the phone by my ear.

"Damon?"

"_Kaylie, I just wanted to tell you the offer still stands and Tucker thinks I'm out of my league here."_

"You are. The offer might still stand to you but it doesn't to me. Don't talk to Austin about this," I warned him.

"_Hey, don't get your temper up. The offer still stands, till the end." _

"The end? The end is now. Because the guy you talk to about me, Austin Tucker, remember him? Yeah? He's my boyfriend, Damon. I repeat Damon Young, Austin Tucker is my boyfriend. I don't need any more drama in my life right now. Everything happened so fast around here after you and Emily left. Emily and you had a daughter, a beautiful one. Something different happened to me," I told him.

"_What are you talking about? What's the worst that can happen compared to bringing a new life to this world?" _

"Loosing my virginity to a guy I don't love? At least you and Emily love each other then. I didn't love this guy."

"_Tucker?"_

"No. I didn't lose it to Austin Tucker. I love him, a lot. I lost it to Brad Collins," I confessed.

"_Who's Brad Collins? That guy's name alone makes him sound like a dickhead." _

"He was, still is."

"_What happened?"_

"Long story short, he made Austin and I break up and he swooped in with his charms and lied to me all the way. Lost my virginity with him and there goes my innocence."

"_Sorry about Collins."_

"You don't have to say sorry or feel sorry."

"But so what about you and me?"

"Oh my god, have you not been listening, Damon? You and I will _not_ work. Ever. Austin Tucker, Mr. Kobalt, Gymnastics' Bad-Boy is _my boyfriend_!"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Seriously, do you need a hearing aid? I repeat. Austin Tucker is _my boyfriend_!"

"Your boyfriend?"

"Yes, Damon. Austin's my boyfriend. We've been dating for one and a half months before Brad. And we've been dating for another month and a half after Brad."

"Why didn't Austin tell me about this?"

"Well maybe because he was trying to be the nice guy and not break your heart."

"Huh, so that's why he was being the party pooper!"

What did he just call my boyfriend? A party-pooper? He's kidding me, right?

"Did you just call my boyfriend a party-pooper?"

"Well, I didn't mean it like that. I-"

"Bye, Damon," I snapped and pressed the _End_ call.

I have to tell Austin what happened, if he picks up my calls, that is. I dialed Austin's number and got ready for this speech.

"_This better be good." _He sighed.

"It is. I told Damon the truth and now you don't have to worry about him hitting on me anymore," I convinced him.

"_You didn't have to tell me this. I knew you would do that in the first place." _

"You know me well. Thanks Austin, for believing me and not dumping me, even if it's on the phone. Thank you for not being Joe Jonas and his infamous 27-second break up call," I thanked him.

"_Your welcome. How am I Joe Jonas? I am manlier than him. He wears skinny jeans all day long," _I heard him snicker under his breath. _"You should get some sleep. It's been a long day and you, Kaylie Cruz, deserve it. I love you, babe." _

"I love you, too, Austin Tucker."

We both hung up and a smile appears on my face.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> We hope you guys liked this chapter. Personally, we don't really like Emily and Damon ourselves...but oh well. :D

We only got like 4 reviews for the first chapter, which kinda sucks :( but i guess you guys don't like Emily either. To those four reviewers, THANK YOU :) you made our day :) anyways, you know the protocol. Now that you've read, don't forget to

**_REVIEW! xx_**


	3. LAST GOODBYE

**Chapter 3**

_Damon's POV_

_Ding._

Emily opened the door and she's obviously not happy to see me but invited me inside anyway, just to be polite I assume. No one is at home, just her. That's great, so we can talk about the custody of Cassie. I hope she would unban me so we don't have to go to court over Cassie. I still want to be in her life, both of them.

"What do you want now?"

"I just want to check on you," I told her.

"Also to come and tell me that you have to say 'I love you' to another girl. No thanks."

"Em, I really don't want to revisit that conversation again."

"You don't revisit anything Damon. Only Kaylie of course," she challenged.

"Emily, stop that! I'm not here to plan games or to have you telling me I did the wrong thing or even make the wrong choice to love your best friend. I'm here to take care of Cassie. If you ban me then we'll bring this fight right to the court. Think about it," I challenged her first and won.

I walked out of the door and headed straight to Austin's. It's late and I need to talk to Austin. I can't believe while having the talk with me, while I was spilling my feelings for Kaylie, Austin knew that me and her won't work out but won't tell me about it and kept my hopes up. Was he still pissed at me for hugging Kaylie, like what, a year ago? I thought he was trying to help me and I thought he was my friend. They are dating for one and a half months after Brad Collins happened. They were dating before that too. So that equals 3 months. I arrived at the lake house and walked in. In the living room, Austin was sitting on his white leather sofa drinking some beer while watching football on his flat screen.

"Dude."

"Hey, when did you get back?"

"Just now. I want to talk to you about something," I asked him.

"Hit me."

I really want to, trust me, I thought about it but instead I said, "Kaylie told me something that I didn't expect."

"Expect the unexpected. It's a life quote you know," he told me.

"Yeah and this is unexpected. You didn't tell me you and Kaylie were dating for one and a half months."

"3 months to be exact but…oh. How did you know about that?" he looked surprised. Kaylie didn't tell him? This is fun.

"Kaylie. She told me. I thought we were friends. After you hitting me in the stomach I thought we were good? What happened?" I was confused.

"Sorry man, but I didn't want to make you mad and everything…"

"Well I am mad now so what's your next excuse?"

There was an awkward silence. He owns me in this. I should really just drop it. I have other things to worry about, like my daughter.

"Don't worry, Tucker. Kaylie told me she loves you so I'll back off. I'm leaving anyway."

"Wait…Young, what did you just say?"

_Austin's POV_

He's leaving? Since when? Does Emily know about this? I picked my phone up as soon as I heard the guest room door closed. I dialed Emily's number. She must have an explanation. I know what happened with Kaylie but Emily? No idea.

"_Hello?" _

"Emily, what happened between you and Damon?" I asked.

"_Like you said it's "between you and Damon" so therefore, it's between Damon and I."_

"Please don't hang up. I need to know because Damon is leaving. He's going back to his tour since you don't need him anymore," I explained.

"_He's leaving back to his tour? It's because of me; since I told him I don't want him anywhere near our daughter. It's my fault," _Emily is blaming herself over this.

"It's not really your fault. He loves Cassie okay? You need to talk him out of the tour thing. He needs your daughter and your daughter needs him. You need him too, both of you," I explained hard and clear.

"_I know Austin, but I don't know if I can let him back into my life."_

"You don't necessarily need to let him back into _your _life. Just let him back into _your_ daughter's life. A child living without both of her parents would be devastated."

"_You're right. I need to call him and tell him that. It's about our daughter, not mine only. I wasn't thinking about her at all, it was all about me. Am I that selfish?" _she asked me.

"No. Call him, Em."

We both hung up our phone and I sat there hoping things will be better for their family.

_Emily's POV_

Austin. He's right; I was thinking about myself, I was being selfish. My daughter needs her father and me, I was just thinking about Kaylie and Damon. Kaylie, of course always get the guy but it's not her fault in this situation. It's mine, for not thinking about Cassie, but just me. Damon is dead to me but to my daughter, Cassie, he's everything. I called him and this time I'll set it straight.

"_Hello? Em?"_

"Don't go. Don't go back on tour."

"_Emily, I don't get you. You told me to stay away and now you're telling me to stay back with you?" _he asked.

"It's not about me!" I yelled.

"_Really? It's seems like everything is about you. Cassie, gymnastics, Kaylie!" _

"Sorry, Damon. But I…I mean Cassie need you. She needs a father. She needs both of us."

"_Now you think that?"_

"I'm sorry it took me this long to figure it out, I just…I was thinking about myself not Cassie," I confessed.

"_I know. It's always about you. But now, it's not about you or me. It's Cassie. That's what you want right?"_

"Right…what are you saying?"

"_I want to be in Cassie's life so I will help out. But it's for Cassie's sake. Not yours."_

Damon hung up on me. Can he be any more of a jackass? First, he tells me that he's in love with another girl and now he hangs up on me? That's it.

_Damon's POV_

I hung up on Emily and look through my contacts and clicked on Payson's name and started typing a message to her.

I typed: I'm going back to Vegas tomorrow to Emily's godmother and I hope you can convince Emily to let me bring Cassie back to Vegas with me. Thank you.

I hit the _send_ button and hoped for the best.

_Payson's POV_

I read through the message. I couldn't understand what he wanted to say so I read it over and over and over again. I think I read it at least a hundred times by now. I guess he want me to convince Emily to take Cassie home. I hope I can make Emily see that. So I guess I'll call her.

"_Payson?" _

"Emily, Damon is leaving back to Vegas tomorrow so he was wondering if he can take Cassie off your hands for a couple of days, and maybe hopefully weeks?" I asked politely, crossing my fingers.

"_Payson don't ask me that."_

"Why not? Kaylie updated us on everything and I think from all that has happened, you need to make amends to Damon."

"_But it's not your place to…"_

"To what? Help out my friends?" I interrupted.

"_That's not what I meant, Pay, and you know that."_

"No, Em, I don't know. What's your next move? Are you leaving with him and giving up on gymnastics, again, or let Damon have some father and daughter time?" I challenged.

"_I guess I can let Damon have that responsibility." _

"That's much more like it, Em. Thanks."

"_Time?"_

"10. Be there."

We both hung up and I was texting Damon for the good news.

_Damon's POV_

My phone vibrated and I looked at it. It's Payson with good news I hope. I opened the text message and I read it.

_Emily agreed to the offer, 10 tomorrow at the airport? See you soon. We'll all be there._

I sent her another thank you text and head back to bed. I hope she doesn't change her mind. The night flew by fast and I got up, everything is packed and ready to go. Austin is taking me to the airport with the others following in Nicky's and Max's cars. We put all my bags in the trunk and I got into the car. Austin drove fast and we got there 5 minutes before 10 o'clock sharp. Perfect timing as always, everyone else was right on time.

"Bye dude," Max greeted me.

"See you soon guys. Thanks for putting up with me," I smiled.

"Damon, here's Cassie," Emily told me. I took Cassie off Emily hands.

"Are you coming?"

"Umm…no."

"Em?" Payson asked.

"I'm staying and hopefully I can make it back into gymnastics."

"Wow. That's awesome, Em," Max.

"Nicky, I heard you scored Lauren," Emily asked him, "She's a real catch. Don't let her get off your hook." They laughed at her joke.

"Guys, enough. Cassie and I have a plane to catch."

We all hug then Cassie and I left for our plane, waving behind us. I'll miss them all.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and we'll update the next chapter tomorrow or every soon. <strong>

**Remember to review xx**


	4. HEART TO HEART

**Chapter 4**

_Emily's POV_

We were all standing in the viewing area looking at Damon's plane board and roll out onto the runway. My phone buzzed and I fished it out of my pocket with my right hand and used my left hand to wipe away stray tears on my cheeks.

_I'll always be there for you, no matter what. I love you, Kmetko._

It was from Damon. I know he still loves me even though he admits he loves Kaylie. I turn to look at Kaylie and I saw she was leaning into Austin lovingly with his hand wrapped around her petite frame. They looked so happy. Damon didn't get in between them so maybe I should give Damon a chance.

I know Cassie will be safe with her father. I know she will. But I will be home with her soon. I need to be there for Cassie. I can't continue living my gymnastics dream; I understood that now. Gymnastics isn't a part of me anymore. My Olympic dream went down the drain when I got pregnant with Cassie. So I guess my dream, my life, right now is Cassie. I have to care for her.

What am I doing here? Shouldn't I be on that plane with Damon, raising our baby together? I guess I'm going to have to say goodbye to them one final time.

"Hey, Kaylie," I finally said. I turned to look at her and saw her turn her body towards me, Austin shifting behind her.

"Hey."

"I was wondering, can we have a girls' night tonight? You know, you, Payson, Lauren and me? Like old times?" I asked her.

"Yeah, sure," she replied and moved towards me and embraced me in a hug. I needed this. I needed someone to believe in me no matter what. Even after everything I put Kaylie through, she still accepted me as a friend.

"I'm sorry about our previous conversation," I whispered.

She shook her head, "Don't worry about it."

_Kaylie's POV_

When Damon's plane was finally out of sight, we all turned and walked out of the airport.

"Can you guys send us girls to my house?" I asked the guys.

"Yeah, no problem, babe," Austin replied. We all got in our respective cars and drove towards Boulder. After about an hour and a half we finally reached my house and I quickly punched in the security code. Austin drove me up the familiar driveway and Max's car was trailing behind. I unbuckled my seat belt and turned towards Austin.

"So, call me later?" I smiled at him.

"If you want me to. I mean, you guys are having a girls' night so maybe I shouldn't interrupt that," he smirked.

"No, I want you to call me," I leaned in towards him and gave him a sweet kiss. He moved his hands to caress my cheeks and I wrapped my hands around the nape of his neck. A tap came against the window and I broke off the cheek and turned towards the door. I blushed when I saw Payson, Lauren and Emily peeking in to our make-out session.

"Bye, Austin," I finally told him and opened the door. Before I could step out, he caught my hand and pulled me back into his embrace. He gave me a peck and pulled me into a hug.

"Have fun tonight, but not too much. I'll call you to wish you goodnight. Love you, babe," he said into my hair.

"Okay, love you, too," I giggled. I finally got out of the car and closed the door behind me. I waved at him and he pulled out of the driveway with Max and Nicky in tow.

I led them towards the front door and took my keys out from inside my purse. I unlocked the door and stepped in.

"You know what, Kay? You take too long to say "See you later" to your boyfriend," Lauren complained. The other two just giggled. I, once again, blushed.

We all settled into the couch after changing into more comfortable clothes.

"So, Payson, tell me all about you and Max," Emily inquired.

I saw Payson's eyes sparkle, it happens every single time Max was mentioned. I nudged Payson.

"Well, we're going great, I guess. But there was one time I seriously thought he cheated on me," she explained.

"Yeah, I remember that. You were, like, freaking out and everything. You even broke up with him for, like, twelve hours?" Lauren laughed.

"What? Payson," Emily began while resting her hand on Payson's knees. "You know Max would never do that to you. Ever."

"Yeah, I know. I later found out that the blonde that he was having dinner with was just an old friend. No biggie," Emily nodded. "But I guess now, we're going good."

"What about you, Lauren? How's Nicky?"

"Oh my god. It is awesome!" Lauren shrieked, which in turn, made us all laugh. "It was kinda awkward in the beginning, you know, when he did the whole "She's my girlfriend" thing at Austin's party, but-"

"Wait, he did what?" Emily interrupted.

"Well, Austin had a party, and when we first walked in, three guys hit on us. I guess the guys got jealous and they told everyone that we had boyfriends. They actually went _on-stage_ to do that. That was kinda embarrassing, especially for Kaylie," Payson explained.

"Why Kaylie?" Emily questioned, obviously getting interested.

"So there was this guy named Chris and I seriously believed he was like interested in Kaylie. After Austin told him that Kaylie was his girlfriend, Chris kept saying that there was no way that Mr. Kobalt had a girlfriend," Lauren took a breath. "But then after the whole stage thing, we went to dance and Chris hit on Kaylie at the bar _and_ on the dance floor. He asked her to dance with him and it was a slow song. He kissed her hand then her cheeks, but Austin thought it was her lips and he went all jealous-boyfriend on him. He punched him in the middle of the dance floor and everyone stopped and stared. And typical Kaylie, she ran."

"Well, yeah. What was I supposed to do? Stand there watching the fight go down?" I inquired teasingly. They just all nodded and laughed. "So after Austin introduced me as his girlfriend, he introduced Payson as Max's girlfriend. Then it was Lauren's turn and, of course, at that time Lauren didn't have a boyfriend. So then somehow Nicky stepped up and said that she was his girlfriend."

"Yeah, and then the guys confronted Nicky about it like the next day in practice and he admitted to liking Lauren. Then he told Lauren and Lauren didn't say anything back," Payson shot a teasing glare at Lauren and continued, "So he said he was going to leave Boulder _and_ Gymnastics and go live with Chris – remember the guy that hit on Kaylie? – in Beverly Hills. Yeah, his dad is like some big-time producer or something and lives in Beverly Hills."

"Guys, can I tell my own love story?" Lauren teased and we nodded. "So the next day, he was going to the airport and I made Kaylie and Payson drive me to the airport and once we got there, I ran inside and when I spotted Nicky, I literally jumped on him like a cat," with that, we all burst out laughing. "And so from then on, we've been together," Lauren smiled.

"That's so cute!" Emily squealed and smiled at Lauren. They all turned to look at me and I knew they wanted me to tell the story of how Austin and I got together. "What?" I asked innocently.

"Oh, you know what, Kaylie. Don't act innocent. How did you and Austin _really_ get together?" Lauren told me. It was true, I never really told them how we got together.

"Well," I chuckled. "You guys have surely read it in the magazines after Worlds."

"Yeah, but I'm serious, how?"

"Okay, fine. So one day, before my fall at Worlds Trials, Austin came to my house and told my parents that I was battling an eating disorder. Of course, they didn't believe him. I asked him why he thought he could just come over and talk to my parents about it. And he told me that when he figured me out, he may find himself falling for me," I smiled at the memory.

"Aw," they all chorused.

"Then remember when you guys came to Denver for the exhibition?" they all nodded. "Well, Austin visited one day and asked him if he was really falling for me and he said yes. Then I asked him what would happen if I told him I was falling for him, too. I was hoping he would, like, kiss me or something, you know? But instead he shot me down and I got pissed. I guess from then on, it was a battle between the both of us, trying to hide our feelings."

"Kay, that's just so…so…adorable!" Emily said and we all giggled.

"And then we officially became an item at Worlds," I finished.

"You know, Kaylie, you and Austin are absolutely charming," Emily exclaimed.

What? Charming? Nobody's ever said we were charming before. In actual fact, nobody _ever_ called us anything, except "Gymnastics' Power Couple".

"How are we charming?" I inquired with a confused look on my face.

"Oh come on, obviously you don't see yourself and him. Have you _ever_ looked in the mirror when you two stand next to each other?" I shook my head. "That's why, you guys, just…I don't know…match. Seriously, every time he looks at you its as if his eyes are solely focused on you, as if you are literally the _only_ thing in his world," Lauren explained.

"Really?"

"Really, Kay. I bet he'd even quit gymnastics if anything happened to you," Payson clarified.

"Don't say that, Pay. Ever. You're going to jinx it," I smiled.

"You don't believe us?"

Do I believe them? I'm not entirely sure. "Maybe, not really? I don't know?"

"Oh my god. Okay, do you have a copy of last month's Us Weekly?" Lauren asked.

What? She wants to read a magazine while we're having girls' night? She's ridiculous.

"Yeah, why?"

"Go get it," Lauren commanded. I got off the couch and went towards the magazine rack next to the TV set. I looked through the stack of magazines and found the Us Weekly Lauren asked for. I took it out and sat back down on the catch and chucked the magazine at her. She caught it in her hands. She was furiously looking through the magazine – I thought she was going to rip the pages – and finally found the page she was looking for. She smiled and handed back the magazine to me.

I took a look at it and read the title: _"Rock Rebels and Olympians take Manhattan"_. I looked at the first page labeled _"Lauren & Nicky: the Silver couple"_; the page was filled with photos of Lauren and Nicky in New York. I looked on the next page and saw photos of Max and Payson; it was labeled _"Payson & Max: a perfect match"_. Lastly, I turned the page and saw the label: _"Kaylie & Austin: Gymnastics' very own Golden and Power couple"_. I looked at the array of photos. Most of the photos, Austin had his arm draped around my shoulders or at my waist and a few had him looking at me while I smiled at the camera. Now I knew what the three were talking about. I smiled.

"Now you see," Payson sighed.

"Yeah. Wow, I didn't even know." Who knew I had this effect on Austin.

"You guys are absolutely in love. And I don't mean the occasional "I love you", but you are actually _in _love. You'd do anything for each other," Emily replied.

"I don't know about Austin, but I am definitely _in love_ with him," I finally realized.

"Kaylie, not to ruin the moment or anything, but your phone's buzzing," Lauren giggled. I looked away from the mesmerizing photos and took out my phone from my pocket. Austin's name flashed across the screen of my Blackberry.

"Excuse me, guys, I gotta take this," I breathed.

"Who is it? Wait, let me guess, lover boy," Lauren chuckled. I smiled brightly and got of the couch and sat on the kitchen counter. I took a deep breath and pressed the _Answer_ button.

"_Hey, gorgeous," _Austin said.

"Hey, how's boys' night out?"

"_How'd you know about that?"_ he sounded surprised.

"Just…instincts."

"_Amazing how you understand me," _he chuckled._ "So how's girls' night?"_

"Um…it's great actually," should I tell him about what they told me about both of us being _in love_?

"_What'd you guys talk about?"_

"Nothing you need to know. And plus, it's a secret," I giggled.

"_Fine, but I will find out somehow. I won't keep you away from them any longer, so goodnight."_

"Why are you saying goodnight? It's only 8," I asked, confused.

"_Babe, you guys must be deep in conversation, because it's 11pm right now," _he laughed softly. I could imagine him smirking but it could not be 11. We just got back like an hour ago. I looked at the kitchen clock and there it was, mocking me. It was indeed 11.

"Oh," I breathed. "So in that case, goodnight, Austin Tucker."

"_I love you, Kaylie Cruz,"_ he seemed to have stressed 'love'.

"I love you, too," I told him and we both seemed to have hung up at the same time. I held my phone in my hands and smiled while walking back into the living room where Payson, Lauren and Emily were waiting for me.

"We heard everything," Lauren sniggered. It snapped me out of my bubble.

"What? How?" I frantically said.

"I'm joking, jeez! Calm down!" Lauren laughed and patted the seat next to her, motioning me to come sit down. "But we did here the _"I love you, too"_ part," Lauren winked. I could feel heat rise towards my cheeks.

"Anyways, enough about Austin and I," I told them and they sighed in defeat. "What about you, Emily? What are you going to do now?"

We all turned to look at her and I could see the look on her face. It was as if she was trying to figure things out.

_Emily's POV_

"Anyways, enough about Austin and I," Kaylie said. "What about you, Emily? What are you going to do now?"

That question definitely threw me off guard. I wasn't expecting it. But then again, Kaylie likes to do these sorts of things, ask questions that no one is prepared to answer. What am I going to do? Now that Damon and Cassie are back in Vegas and there's nothing holding me in Boulder anymore, what am I going to do? I can't do gymnastics anymore and I need to take care of Cassie. Cassie Kmetko-Young needs _both_ of her parents. She needs Damon and I. I need Damon and her. So I guess I have my answer: I have to go be with Damon and Cassie.

"I think I'm…uh…going to go back to Vegas. I need to be there for Cassie. Cassie needs me, and I need her. And I also need Damon," I finally uttered. I looked at them and they all smiled at me encouragingly. "Lauren, do you mind booking me a ticket for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, no problem," Lauren took out her phone and dialed Southwest's hotline. In five minutes, she has booked me a ticket and I was ready to go in the morning. I didn't bring much stuff with me to Boulder so I didn't really need to go pack them.

We all went up into Kaylie's room and climbed onto the bed. It was almost midnight and we all quickly fell asleep.

I woke up in the morning to the smell of bacons, eggs and freshly brewed coffee. I looked around me and found that I was the only one still in the bed. I guess they were all already downstairs, making breakfast. I quickly combed through my short hair and sauntered down into the kitchen.

"Morning, Em!" they all said in unison. "We made you breakfast, come sit!" I sat down in the chair in front of the kitchen counter.

"You didn't have to do this, guys," I sighed.

"What are you talking about? Of course we did! You're leaving and who knows when we'll be able to see you again?" Payson explained. That makes sense. Instead of arguing, I sat there while they raced around the kitchen taking out necessary things to make the going-away breakfast for me. They were finally done and in front of me, I had a ham-and-cheese omelet, a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice, a glass of coffee, some bacon and toasted bread with melted butter on top. They all looked mouth watering.

"Thanks, guys. This looks amazing!" I told them and took my first bite. They taste as good as they looked. I finished the breakfast in five minutes – a record and they all laughed at me.

"We should go get changed and get ready to go to the airport. Your flight leaves in three hours," Lauren chimed in. We all agreed and ran back upstairs. Kaylie took a shower while the rest of us got changed. We all agreed to wear the same thing: white-cropped denim shorts and a 'The Rock' t-shirt. We piled into Kaylie's car and drove off to Denver. We arrived half an hour before my plane took off. They waited while I checked in.

"Bye, guys. I'm going to miss you so much!" I told them.

"We're going to miss you, too, Em," Kaylie told me and went in for a hug. She let go.

"Yeah, come visit us whenever, okay?" It was now Lauren's turn to give me a hug. She wasn't such a bitch when you actually get to know her.

"And bring baby Kmetko-Young, too," Payson said and hugged me. We all had a final group hug and I turned around before they could see the hot tears streaming down my face. I walked towards the gate and got in the plane without turning back.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> okay so we hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! sorry for the late upload! we apologize. i was busy finishing packing and my best friend didn't have the file cause it's on my laptop :( sorryy! anyways, **_REVIEW! xx_**


	5. CARTER'S COMEBACK

**Chapter 5**

_Kaylie's POV_

After sending Emily to the airport, we three drove back to Boulder and decided to stop by Spruce Juice.

I dialed Austin's number – which I knew off by heart – and waited for him to pick up. He picked up after the third ring and his voice sound groggy.

"Hey, babe. Are you guys up?"

"_Gorgeous, you woke us all up,"_ he replied and I could not hold in my laughter.

"Well, get up. We're waiting for you at Spruce Juice," I told him and didn't wait for an answer and hung up. I walked back to the table Lauren and Payson were sitting at with our smoothies.

"Is it just me or did you just hang up on Austin without saying "I love you" or anything along those lines?" Lauren joked.

"Whatever, Lo. He knows I love him anyways. And plus, they just woke up. They're getting ready," I told them and sat down.

We were all gossiping when someone kissed me on the cheeks. I jumped and nearly spilled my smoothie on myself. I turned around and began, "What the hell do you- oh. Austin, hey! Sorry about that, it kind of surprised me." I wrapped my hands around his neck and gave him a proper kiss. I broke away and sat back down and he sat next to me. I noticed that the other guys were also giving their girlfriends a good morning kiss.

"I just noticed, you all are wearing the same thing," Max clarified.

"Yeah, even Emily. We all decided to wear the same thing one last time with her. She left this morning, back to Vegas and Damon and Cassie," I explained.

"Yeah, that's the best thing she can do right now, be there for the both of them, you know?" Payson said.

"So you guys done?" Max impatiently questioned.

"Nearly, why?"

"We're going to the movies. Triple date," he replied.

"What, why? Since when?" I asked. The guys hated triple dates, and now they want to go on one? That's just…weird.

"Well, the last time we went on a triple date in Boulder, Sasha interrupted. So now, we're going on a triple date where Sasha wouldn't likely be hanging out at," Austin explained. We all nodded and quickly finished our drinks. The guys laced their fingers with their girlfriends and led them towards the three cars parked outside.

"Carter?" I heard Lauren utter. I stopped in my tracks and whipped my head around to look at Lauren and…Carter. There he was, in the flesh. Standing in front of Lauren. I saw Nicky tense.

"What do you want, Anderson?" Nicky said through gritted teeth.

"To come back to Boulder, Russo. Why are you hanging out with the girls and Austin's posse?"

Wow, nice comeback, "Carter, what are you doing here? Really?"

"I came back to take what was and still is mine," he told me.

_Lauren's POV_

Carter came back to take what was and still is his? Does he mean Kaylie? Get Kaylie back, still loves Kaylie and all things Kaylie? The world revolves around Kaylie. Maybe that's why there's a feeling in my stomach, it feels like jealousy. I'm _jealous_ about her because everyone loves her. She has a family that loves her even though her parents spilt up. She has Austin Tucker who loves her to bits and is probably going to marry her one day soon; I know Nicky and I am a great couple, the 'Silver' couple; but is it enough? I always think that.

"Dude, if you're talking about Kaylie then you have no luck," Austin told him with a firm voice.

"Tucker and…posse. I'm not talking about lovely Kaylie here. I'm talking about the beautiful blonde here."

What? Did he mean me? I thought he would mean Kaylie. All things Kaylie. What is he up to? Does he want Nicky to hit his head like a baseball…it could even fly to Paris.

"Carter, what are you talking about? Blonde? Me?" I asked him.

"Who else, gorgeous?"

"Dude, that's my line to Kaylie and we all know that," Austin bragged.

"Dude, that's my girl."

_Carter's POV_

His girl? What? Like his girlfriend? That's impossible, Lauren is still in love with me. I know I left her to go to Denver and to be with Kelly but Lauren always will love me. I'm her first love and her first. Nothing will compete with a hottie like me.

"Your girl? Don't you mean me?"

"No. I don't, Anderson, I meant me."

"Lauren can choose herself can't she?" Kaylie asked.

"Alright people, Carter, where are you going to stay for your visit?"

"I'm not sure and visit? I might stay here for good if I like what I'm seeing and trust me, I like it alright."

I was hinting to Lauren. She looks good.

"So stay with us. At my Lake house, it will be awesome," Austin invited me.

"Sure. Shall we go?"

I took my bags and placed it in Austin's amazing car. Where did he get that? Maybe it was to impress Kaylie Cruz. Austin drove us to his lake house. I missed this place and all his wild parties. I wonder who lives here with him. The ride was awkward and silent. I used to date his girlfriend and cheated on her with Nicky's girl. I wonder if coming back here was a mistake. We got out and we headed to the living room. Austin smiled and was waiting for someone. Who? Nicky and Max walked in and I realized he was waiting for them.

"Why are you guys here?"

"Nicky and Max? They live here with me," Austin replied.

"Since?"

"Since forever, Anderson," Nicky answered in a cold voice.

"Guys, let's try to get along," Max suggested.

"Do people come and go as they please here?"

"Yeah, I guess I let friends stay here. Like Damon, Brad, you know," Austin explained.

"So I'm a friend?" I asked, "Never mind." Who the hell is Brad? Oh, whatever. Who cares?

Austin then gave me directions to the guest room. I walked upstairs and opened the door to the room I would stay in. It's big and it looks like a hotel room. I placed my bags down and took out my clothes. I opened the wardrobe and hang my clothes on to the hanger. I feel tired but I need to talk to Nicky about Lauren. I walked out and saw Nicky heading to his room, maybe talking by the door and stairs is fine too. He gave me a strange look, a look that probably says stay away from Lauren but I got to try to talk to him about it.

"Nicky, I know I might be a threat to you and Lauren but I have a great reasons."

"Reasons? What reasons are those?" he asked.

"Reasons like I'm still in love with Lauren and she probably still love me, too."

"She probably _used_ to love you," he's denying it?

I don't know what to say to make Nicky see that I'm staying for Lauren and I'm going to apologize to her for leaving her. She will forgive me. I mean we love each other, right?

"Does Lauren really love you?"

"Love? Meaning?"

"Meaning love. Saying 'I love you,' of course you have. Right?"

"Actually, we didn't."

"Bad luck. She did to me, maybe next time."

I gave him a smirk and was about to walk away when Nicky grabbed my arm and told me, "I love Lauren no matter what you or anyone says. About the whole 'I love you' speech you just gave me, it's crap. She haven't said it yet but I love her with all my heart so you can carry your huge ass and ego out of _our _business."

He walked away without another word. I can see he loves Lauren but I do too. I can also see that Nicky won't let anything get in between them, but I think different. I walked in my room and went to bed. That's tomorrow problem.

_Lauren's POV_

We drove home from Spruce Juice to Kaylie's; Payson went home to help her mom clean the whole house. I wonder why she didn't use her endorsement money to get a helper. Would make life a hell of a lot easier. I couldn't stay alone tonight since my dad hasn't exactly been daddy dearest. I can't believe Carter came back for me. Still. We arrived and there's still nothing to talk about except Carter maybe. We headed up to Kaylie's room and we sat there on the bed. Kaylie was meaning to ask me something but she couldn't get herself to ask me.

So instead, I did, "What do you want to say?"

"Are you alright with Carter coming back, Lo?" she questioned.

"Alright? I'm way off that, like a mile away."

"It's going to be alright, everything will be okay," she encouraged.

"He's staying at Austin's and so is Nicky. They're probably going to kill each other like two hound dogs fighting over a huge delicious bone."

I giggled and quickly regained my composure, "Don't humor me, Lo. This is serious to you."

"I know it is. But I can't do anything about it. I can't make Nicky trust me with Carter. Old sparks can come back," I explained.

"Old sparks can go out. Someone needs to light it up to have sparks."

She had a point, "Nicky and I didn't even say the 3 words '_I love you'_ yet. But I did to Carter remember?"

"Don't remind me that either. But yes, I remember."

"Exactly my point. I haven't said it to Nicky."

"You will say it when the time is right."

"I know, Kay. Thanks for being here with me during Carter's comeback."

Today is really Carter's Comeback. And to answer my question before: is it enough? Nicky? Yes, it is enough for me. I love Nicky and I will tell him that when the time is right. All things Kaylie? Nope. Today was all things me.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> so here it is! chapter 5! honestly, who expected carter to come back? hahaha! hope you enjoyed it! please **_REVIEW! xx_**


	6. I WIN

**Chapter 6**

_Nicky's POV_

Who does he think he is? Coming back to Boulder and then hitting on my girlfriend? Whatever, I love Lauren and if he can't deal with it then it's his problem. Not mine. I lay on my bed and still thought about it. Few minutes later I fell asleep.

I woke up early the next morning and got ready as fast as I could. I head downstairs and Austin, Max and Carter were already up. They were sitting by the table eating breakfast, eating blueberry pancakes. Max always makes us this kind of breakfast.

"Morning sleepy head," Austin teased.

"Morning party pooper," I teased back and smiled.

"Want some?" Carter offered.

"Pancakes? No. I need to talk to Lauren, so talk to you soon."

I dialed Lauren's number and placed the phone by my ear and wait.

"Morning, beautiful," I greeted.

"_Hey, why'd you call so early?" _

"I just want to tell you about my umm…talk with Carter," I answered.

"_Oh? What about?" _

"You. Yeah, mostly you," I explained.

"_Well spill."_

"He was um…trying to tell me that he's trying to win you back," I told him.

"_It's not working. Hey, I gotta go, talk to you soon?" _

"Sure, dinner tonight. At the lake house?"

"_Yes. I…see you, bye." _

We hung up. I think she's about to say the 'L' word to me but something stopped her. I wonder what that was about. Did Carter talk to her before I did?

_Carter's POV_

Blueberry pancakes was good, delicious. I should call Lauren after her bimbo boyfriend's done with the sweet loving talk. Nicky came back with a smile on his face, I'm guessing he said something to her and she's liked it? Could it be 'I love you'?

"Why so happy?" I asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Just talked to Lauren and everything is great."

"What happened between you two? Have you guys…you know?"

"What? What are you talking about Tucker?"

"You know exactly what I'm saying…" I knew exactly what he was implying.

"Maybe. Soon. Who knows?" he wasn't sure.

"Wow…Russo, way to go!" Max congratulated.

"Okay, dudes. Let's drop this," he begged.

His friends cared too much. I just care more than his so called best friends.

"Well, hate to break the happily ever after with the princess and prince's marriage but I got a phone call to make. If you loyal subjects would excuse me."

I walked off and dialed Lauren's number. Hoping she would pick up even if I am calling. She finally picked up.

"_Carter." _

"Beautiful, I was thinking if you want dinner tonight as an old former couple," I asked.

"_I can't, I have dinner date with umm…Nicky," _she told me.

"Russo? Well lunch then?"

"_Can't either, sorry. I'm having lunch with Kaylie and Payson. You know my friends? My best friends? Why don't you try to have a guy's hang out with your new housemates?" _

"Nah, I'll just go to Chloe."

"_Chloe? Do you mean the store?" _

"Yeah, to pick something out for a…friend."

"_Well I say buy her a bag. It's a great season for bags." _

"Noted."

She hung up and I did later. Bag? Great season? All right, she wants a bag I'll get her a bag. I headed back in and asked Austin for his car, "Can I borrow your car? I need to head to a store."

"Sure, here," Austin threw his car keys and gave me a nod.

I walked out and waved to them. I got into the cars and drove off to Chloe. When I got there the store was already opened and I parked Austin's car outside and head in. People were inside looking at the new bag arrivals. I agree, it's beautiful. They are all creative designs and it's all worth buying for her. But which one? I looked around and saw this one beautiful bag, white leather with gold handle. I looked at the price and it's expensive but it's worth it.

I picked it up and told the sales woman to wrap it up with gold paper and a silver ribbon. I told them to make sure they wrap it nice and neat. It's for a girl. _My_ girl. Not Nicky's, but mine. When they're done I took it and headed to Lauren's. On the way there I passed Kaylie's. Should I stop by? Lauren's there. I can give it to her face to face. Maybe it's better off as a present by the door.

I arrived at Lauren's house and I placed the present by the door. I dropped the card into the bag and left. Time to head back to the lake house.

_Lauren's POV_

I got home after lunch with Payson and Kaylie. Wow, I'm stuffed. What is that? I saw something or some sort of bag by the door. I looked into it and there was a card and a present, maybe I'll open it inside. I opened the door and went straight to the living room before I unwrapped the present, with beautiful wrapping paper; I took the card and saw whom it was from.

_Hope you like it, beautiful. It's Chloe. Carter xx. _

Carter? Of course. I unwrapped the present and it's a bag. White leather with gold handle. It's the latest Chloe bag. It must cost a lot but when did he buy it? Who cares? I got the latest Chloe bag! God, I love that guy. I mean…not that kind of love but I, you know, love him as an old friend. Nothing much, no big deal. I can't deal with this; I have to get ready for my date with my boyfriend, Nicky. My boyfriend.

I head to my room with the new present Carter bought for me, which I thank for. I opened my closet and took out my Jessica Barkley turquoise dress and Jimmy Choo sea blue wedges. I wonder what kind of hair? Nah, down with curls. It took a while to get everything together. I suddenly hear my phone ring. It's a text from Nicky. He's probably here. I should head down. I rushed down and saw the car waiting for me. Aww, Nicky.

He drove me to Salt where he reserved the table and we ordered our separate entrees and main courses but we would share a piece of chocolate cheesecake together for dessert. During the date we talk from one topic to another. We were jumping topics all night. What is it that he really wants to talk about?

"Hey, where did you get that new Chloe bag you were talking about?" he finally asked.

"Carter. He um…gave it to me."

"You didn't tell me that when you told me you got a new Chloe bag," he questioned.

"Sorry but I didn't want you to worry about it, it's just a bag."

"A really expensive bag. A bag that I would give you as a present."

"Did you take me to this date for a reason or what, Nicky?" I questioned him. Something is different on this date.

"I took you out because I love you."

Oh my god. He just said the word. The 'L' word. He said it first.

"You just said the word," I was really confused now.

"Yes and I mean it."

"So what about this date, Nicky," I asked.

"When you told me that Carter bought you that bag I realized that even though I don't want to admit it, we both are competing each other for you."

"Competing for me?"

"So I'm ending this competition by letting you choose," he told me.

"I choose?"

"But before that I just want to tell you that I love you and I mean it. I know you love me too but I know you're not ready to say it, but when you do I'll be all ears. If Carter win and you're the prize then congrats to him but I will always feel the same way."

"You're saying I have to choose?" I asked him again.

"Yeah, you don't have to answer it now but really I would love an answer."

"I've got an answer right here," I answered him, "Do you want an answer?"

"Go ahead."

"I don't need to choose because I'm dating the person I want to be."

"Me?"

"Who else you pig head," I smiled.

"I love you, Lauren."

Love me? "I love you, too," I admitted.

We drove to the lake house and went up to Nicky's room. Everyone was probably sleeping or is still out. But all I know is that we have the house to our self. We sat on Nicky's bed and we had a long stared at each other. I wonder if we are ready to do this. Carter lived here too. Carter also loves me too. But I chose Nicky. Nicky Russo.

"Ready to do this?" Nicky asked me.

"Yeah. I'm ready," I answered. He leaned towards me and I automatically responded. Our lips met halfway and our lips molded into one. He brushed his tongue across my lower lip and I allowed him access. He pressed me closer to him and I climbed onto his laps and straddled him. My fingers were twisted in his hair while he moved his hands towards my hips.

Our kiss deepened and he lay back onto the bed and I followed suit. My hands traveled down his chest and reached towards the buttons along his chemise. I slowly unbuttoned them one by one without breaking the kiss. He sat up and took off his chemise after I was done unbuttoning them and I traced my hands along his well-defined abs.

He lifted his hands towards my back and caught the zipper between his fingers. He slowly pulled it downwards and I shrugged out of my dress, kicking it onto the floor. He moved his lips towards the nape of my neck and I hooked my fingers into his belt buckle. I opened it and slowly pulled his pants off of him. I pulled back and looked deeply into his eyes. The corner of his mouths slowly pulled up into a smile and his eyes were sincere.

"I love you, Nicky," I breathed and attacked his lips once again.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> once again, SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! promise i'll update daily from now until school starts (which is, sadly, next monday) :( so anyways, HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER!

**_please remember to UPDATE! xx_**


	7. CONGRATULATIONS

**Chapter 7**

_Lauren's POV_

When I woke up, Nicky was gone, probably downstairs making breakfast. He's so romantic. I put on his T-shirt and walked downstairs. While I was walking downstairs I can hear the guys talking and laughing. I could even hear Carter talking and laughing with them. I keep walking downstairs and think what I'm about to say when they see me like this, in the morning, with Nicky's t-shirt and messy hair. I hope they don't think of me as some kind of skank. But I'm Nicky's girlfriend so I'm fine.

"Morning, beautiful," Nicky greeted.

"Hey, there's the sleeping beauty," Austin joked, "What did you guys do last night?"

"Nothing that you would like to know," I told him.

"I think I would," Austin joked again.

"What did you guys do?" Carter asked.

"Nothing, okay, Anderson?" Nicky snapped.

"When will it be your turn?" I questioned Austin.

"I have no idea but no rush with Kaylie. Max?" Austin winked.

"Payson and I? Nah, she's still too focused on gymnastics."

"I'm going to go change and meet the girls at Spruce Juice," I walked to Nicky and kissed him.

I got upstairs and changed. I'm ready to go. I wondered what Carter would think about us sleeping together. Wait, why am I suddenly interested in what he would think? What the hell? He's not my concern and neither am I to him. I rushed downstairs and Carter was waiting for me. Does he want to talk again? Is he trying to win me back?

I don't want to have anything to do with him. I love Nicky and whatever he's going to say is not important to me. Nothing. Will. Change. My. Feelings. For. Nicky. Russo.

"Can I talk to you?"

_Carter's POV_

"Can I talk to you?" I asked politely.

I wanted to talk to Lauren badly. I want to tell her that I love her even though she just slept with Nicky. I was her first and I want her to be my girlfriend and not the bimbo Russo's. He might win now but after this talk with her I will be the one with the last laugh. I will go over to him and say 'In your face!' That would be the first thing when Lauren agrees to be with me and dump that dickhead.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I want to tell you I love you even if you did sleep with Nicky Russo," I told her.

"Your words don't mean anything to me anymore."

"Even if I say I love you? Why not?" I was confused.

I thought when I say I love you it would change everything. The sentence 'I love you' always was important to Lauren. She was a cautious person and that sentence would always be important. If that doesn't work then what will? I couldn't let her see that I was confused so I just wait for her to say something back that would cover my expression.

"Because…because I love Nicky, not you and that's final."

"Final? I say when it's final."

"Don't threaten me, Carter. Nicky and I are doing great and I don't want you to ruin it, seriously," she explained.

"I'm not trying to ruin anything, Lo."

"Carter, I get it. You love me but I'm in love with someone else. You can't stand that but we were once together and were once a couple but you moved to Denver for Kelly Parker. You got your shot but you blew it so now it's Nicky turn. I chased you but Nicky chased me."

"Maybe I should go back to Denver then."

"Excuse me?" she asked. Now she listens?

"Now that I know you love Nicky and there's no way we can happen again then I guess there is no place for me here."

"No place? It sounded like I'm kicking you out of the city," she joked.

"Not at all. I just don't think Boulder is really my place anymore," I admitted.

"When are you leaving?" Lauren asked.

"I'm leaving today, you don't need to take me to the airport I'm leaving in a few minutes. You should go to meet up with your friends."

"Best friends and thanks. See you sometime soon? Visiting?"

"Maybe. See you. Lauren? I will always love you," I said.

"Don't get started on that again."

She left out of the door and I walked back into the kitchen. Everyone including Nicky was there laughing, probably some joke Austin just told them. I have to break the news to them so might as well congratulate Nicky on the spot. I'm going to be so embarrassed when I admit to Nicky about Lauren. Nicky will get the last laugh. I was wrong.

"Austin, Nicky and Max," I started.

"Not Austin and posse anymore?" Max laughed.

"No. Sorry about that, let's start with Nicky first. Nicky, I was wrong to chase after something that was not mine anymore. Congratulations on winning Lauren and I was wrong," I confessed.

"Thanks, man. Oh and I know I was right. She wasn't yours. She was," he told me.

"I know. Austin, thank you man, for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome," Austin thanked me.

"Wait…it sounds like you're leaving back to Denver."

"About that. I am."

"What? Since when?" Austin asked.

"Since yesterday, I booked a ticket. I talked to Lauren this morning and she said she doesn't love me but loves Nicky. I had my shot and I blew it. So I decided after that."

"When are you going to leave?"

"Now," I told them.

_Lauren's POV_

"Girls, I have some news to tell ya'll."

"What is it?" Payson asked.

"It's about…" before I could say his name Kaylie interrupted.

"Nicky? How was last night?"

"It was amazing. When will you guys dip in the water?" I teased.

"NO!" Payson and Kaylie both said it in unison.

"I mean it's too soon to you know. Too soon to actually do it," Payson said.

"Too soon? You've been dating him for months."

"That's no excuse," I explained.

"You were saying?" Kaylie changed the subject.

"I was saying Carter is going back to Denver. Back to Kelly Parker probably," I finally got a chance to say it.

"Really? When?"

"Now."

"Why?" Payson was confused.

"He came back to have me. I rejected him cause I love Nicky Russo. He has no business here anymore."

"Oh. Good luck to him," Payson said.

"Notice how people keep coming back to Boulder and we have something to do with all the drama that's happening here?" Kaylie pointed out.

"Yeah, that's true. Nicky came back for Kaylie but ended up with Lauren, which is great. Brad came to Boulder and then fell in love with Kaylie. Then he left. Emily and Damon came back to visit, Damon Drama with Kaylie. Now Carter's Comeback for Lauren," Payson put everything together.

"Also with all those small things in between. Like Max and Payson's misunderstanding. Lauren's fight with Nicky in New York and Austin and mine's break up," Kaylie added.

"Nothing like the good old days," I finished off.

_Carter's POV_

I'm glad she's happy with Nicky. She deserved him; he's a better match than I ever was. I looked at the notice board and my flight is boarding right now. I held my bags and passport in both of my hands and headed towards the counter, I gave them my passport and checked in.

"Goodbye, Boulder."

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><p><strong>Author's note: <strong>sorry to disappoint guys! but there was no kaylie or austin in this chapter :( all of it was already pre-wrote! so we can't exactly change it! SORRYY! but i think there's kaylie and austin in the next few chapters :D but anyways, hope you enjoyed it! :D

**_please REVIEW! xx_**


	8. A PRICE TO PAY

**Author's note:** okay, so there was no KayAus in the previous two chapters which meant our reviews were slowing down, but guess what? KAYAUS IS PRESENT IN THIS CHAPTER :D hahah. so read on!

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

"You know, we should throw a party. Us, not the guys. Us," I asked them.

"I don't know if Sasha-" Payson began.

"Oh come on, Pay. We girls actually have _never_ thrown a party. It was always Austin and the guys," Lauren interrupted.

"That's right. It's _our _time to shine."

"I still don't know guys," Payson sighed and I gave her the best pout I could pull off and begged her with my eyes. She sighed, again. "Okay, fine, we'll have this party," she caved in.

"Okay, so where should we host it?" Lauren questioned.

"I guess mine's? I mean I have a pool and everything," I suggested. They nodded and we started making plans for our party.

"So, Saturday after practice?"

"Deal. Now I just need to ask my dad," I scoffed. They both gulped and I knew why. My father, former Major League Baseball star, _hated_ parties. He would _never_ allow me to go to a party that involved alcohol, except those that are hosted by someone he trusted – like Austin's – much less allow me to throw my own party. I sucked in the courage and took out my phone. I pressed 2 on speed dial and waited impatiently as the phone rang.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, daddy. How are you?"

"_You called me 'daddy'. What do you have in mind?" _He sighed.

"What? How did you know?"

"_Nena, I know you. You're my daughter. If I don't know you, then who would?"_

"Of course, papi. So I was wondering if I could…you know…um," I stuttered. "Uh…throw a party?" I squeaked.

"_A party?"_ He screamed into the phone. Surprised by his outburst, I held the phone away from my ear.

"Daddy, please? Pretty please?"

"_When?"_ That was not a yes, neither was it a no. I smiled.

"Saturday after practice?" I bit my lip.

"_I'll be out of the city for the weekend. You may have your party but be responsible."_

I jumped up out of my seat and began to do a mini victory dance. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, daddy!" I quickly said bye and shut the phone.

"So…"

"He said yes! We're having a party!" I squealed in excitement. We all got out of the Spruce Juice and went back to The Rock. We couldn't stop smiling while we entered The Rock and Sasha gave us a confused look.

"We're just excited for practice," Payson tried to cover up while Lauren and I tried to hold in our laughter. We went straight to the locker room and got out of our tracksuit. We tied our hair up and walked by out and went towards the water fountain. We were filling our cups up when our boyfriends came over.

"Hey, why are you girls so – what do you call it? – giddy?" Max questioned.

"I believe the correct term you're looking for is "giggly", Max," Lauren explained.

"Oh, right. So care to explain?"

"Well, you guys are cordially invited to the Rock Rebel Bash," I giggled and the guys gave us looks of confusion, like Sasha.

"We're throwing a party," Payson whispered just in case anyone was nearby.

"What?" the three elite males said in unison.

"Ssh!" I tried to silence them.

"What? You guys are throwing a party?" Austin smirked.

"Yeah. At _my_ house. Now, are you guys going to help spread the words with your Olympian friends and order the booze or do we have to do this all by ourselves?" I questioned.

"Since it's the first time you guys are hosting, we'll spread the word and bring the booze."

"All right, awesome. Party's tomorrow after practice, just FYI. So see you all later," I told them and we walked towards the mats to begin stretching.

The rest of the day was technically a blur and I was excited for tomorrow. I walked towards Sasha's office and took a deep breath before I knocked on the glass door.

"Come in," Sasha's voice replied. I stepped in and walked over to Sasha's desk.

"Sasha, I was wondering if, I could…uh…take tomorrow off?" I looked down at my shoes, refusing to meet his eye.

"May I ask why?" His voice now coarse.

"My dad's going to New York for, like, a week or something. So I just wanted to help him pack and bring him to the airport and just have some father-daughter time before that. It's okay if you don't allow me to," I said quickly. I slowly looked up and met his eyes. He kept staring at me and I tried my best not to spill the truth. Truth was, I needed tomorrow off so I could prepare for my first ever party.

"I don't see any harm in taking tomorrow off," he finally said and I let out my breath. One that I didn't know I was holding in. He signed a sheet of paper and looked back at me. "So, see you Monday, Kaylie?" I nodded.

"Thank you, Sasha," I said and turned around and went out of The Rock.

The next day, I woke up late. I turned to my bed stand and saw that it was 10am. I already told Payson and Lauren why I would be out today and told them to tell Austin that I was sick. I got up out of bed and went into the bathroom. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I tied my wet hair into a messy bun and pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top. I took my wallet and my phone and put it into an over-the-shoulder bag and took my car keys out of my cupboard. I drove to the nearest Safeway and got in. I looked through the rows of groceries till I found the disposable plates and cutleries area. I looked for the all too familiar red plastic cups and bought a few bags of chips. I took my grocery bags and got in my car and flung it into the backseat. I hadn't eaten breakfast and it was nearly noon so I decided to stop by Starbucks.

I got out of my car and pulled on my sunglasses. It was lunch hour and I didn't want anyone to recognize me. I didn't want to spend time signing autographs and taking pictures when I needed to make sure the house was clean and presentable. I slid into the queue unnoticed and waited until it was my turn.

"Can I take your order, miss?" the clerk said and I snapped my head up and looked at him.

"Uh, yeah. May I please have a venti Tazo Passion brewed tea, a deluxe fruit blend and blueberry oat bar?"

"No problem, anything else?" I shook my head. "May I please have your name?"

"Uh, Kaylie Cruz," I said absentmindedly.

"Oh my god, you're Kaylie Cruz, National Champ." Crap. I didn't think about changing my name.

"Uh, yeah," I giggled and looked down.

"I'm sorry but can I please have your autograph?" I smiled and nodded, taking the pen and paper that we were holding out to me. I grabbed it and quickly signed it.

"Here you go," I told him while handing back the pen and paper. I took my receipt, smiled at him and went and sat down at a table, waiting for my name to be called out. My phone buzzed and I took out my phone. _Hey babe heard you called in sick. U ok?_ Austin's text read.

I typed in my reply: Yeah. I'm okay. See you tonight?

I closed my phone and waited for his response.

"National Champ! I mean, uh, Miss Kaylie Cruz, you're order is ready." I smiled and got up out of the seat. I said thank you and grabbed my order and walked out of Starbucks. In the car, Austin sent me a reply: _Definitely. Wouldn't miss it for the world. Get better. Love you._

'See you soon. Love you, too' I replied. I started my engine and drove towards my house. I punched in my security code and drove up the driveway.

I got in and sat in the couch, turned on the TV and ate my lunch. I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up, it was nearly 5. Everyone would be arriving in about a half hour. I rushed upstairs and took a bath. I blow-dried my hair and curled it. I wrapped a towel around my body and ran into my walk-in closet, nearly falling over a stray pillow on the floor. I looked around for my favorite Juicy Couture black-and-gold bikini. I finally found it in the corner of my closet and put it on and took off the towel. I sifted through the unending racks of dresses and finally found my white Roxy strapless dress. I took out my Juicy Couture perfume and sprayed some onto my neck and my wrists. I heard the doorbell ring. I looked myself one last time in the mirror and rushed downstairs. Before opening the door, I took out a pair of Coach sandals and strapped them on. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Hey," Austin said. I looked him up and down. He was wearing a pair of board shorts and a laid back Guess shirt. I smiled and pulled him into a kiss. I pulled back and acknowledged my other best friends. I stepped aside and allowed them in. Hidden behind them were five kegs of beer. People began arriving and by 6 o'clock, my house was packed with people. Payson, Lauren and I took off our cover-ups and exposed our toned bikini bodies. We slid into the pool and gasped as our bodies were fully emerged in the water. I forgot to turn on the water heater and so the water was cold. We huddled together to retain body heat while we were getting used to the water temperature. We were laughing and then we felt pairs of arms encircle our petite bodies. We whipped our heads around and saw that it was only our boyfriends.

I let go of my hold on Lauren and Payson and turned to face Austin. I wrapped my hands around his neck. "Keep me warm?" I asked him and pulled him closer. He wrapped his hands tighter around my waist and gave me a kiss on my cheeks. After a while, the water was not getting any warmer so we decided to get out. We dried ourselves with the towels that I smartly placed on a table near the pool. We then put our sundresses back on and made our way into the living room.

I was talking to Lauren and Payson and we were on our way to the kitchen. I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into something hard, actually, _someone_ hard. I stumbled backwards and Lauren and Payson steadied me before I fell on my ass.

"Sorry," I murmured while straightening my dress and finally looking up at the person who I bumped into. My mouth became dry and a lump formed in my throat. I gulped and I could feel Lauren and Payson tense next to me.

"Hey, Kay, you alright?" I heard my boyfriend ask me. Austin, Nicky and Max approached us and I shook my head at them, shock still on my face. They didn't quite understand. The person I bumped into turned around to face whom I was shaking my head at and I saw Austin, Nicky and Max go rigid. Life sucked out of them and the smiles disappeared from their faces.

"So, I see you guys decided to throw a party," I simply nodded. "Kaylie, you don't look sick _at all_."

"I can explain," I began.

"No need. I'll see you guys bright and early in the morning. At 5," he said coldly.

"Okay," we all managed to choke out.

"You guys better get a good night's rest. Because tomorrow, you _all _are going to endure _hell_," and with that, he turned and stomped out of my house.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> okay, so hope you enjoyed reading it! hahahhahaha :D now, you've read so PLEASE **_REVIEW! xx_**


	9. GIRLS ARE A PAIN

**Chapter 9**

_Kaylie's POV_

Yesterday was just pure hell, Sasha was not kidding, at all. My muscles are all sore and I can barely move. We had to endure hell at 5 in the morning. We had to sort files in his office, clean all the mats and equipments then sweep and clean the parking lot. Straight afterwards, we had to run 5 miles and to top it all off: 10 rounds of conditioning. All that just because of one stupid party? Okay there was some booze but we didn't get drunk enough to do something we could regret or bad enough to blackout in the yard. I'm not Katy Perry and her 'Last Friday Night' music video.

Sasha should have been more understanding to us. We are just teenagers and we have to be wild sometimes; it's our nature. We're like that, but we're just more flexible, more talented and the only difference was that we are elite gymnasts. Well that's comforting to me. We need a shopping spree after what happened in _hell_. We also need time to relax after _Sasha_ happened. I've got to call the girls to meet up and probably spread it to the guys so they can, of course, hold our bags and everything. They are such romantic boyfriends. Austin Tucker is just a pure romantic. I dialed Lauren's number and waited for her to pick up.

"_Hello?" _

Finally.

"Hey, shopping spree today, tell the others."

"_Alright, where do we shop though?" _

"Denver."

We both hung up. I walked into my closet and pulled over a metallic purple loose shirt and pulled on a pair of black high-waist shorts. I tucked in the shirt and pulled out a Louis Vuitton bag and put in my Blackberry, my wallet, my iPod – for the ride to Denver – and took a pair of Chanel sunglasses. I got out of my room and walked down the stairs. My phone rang and I took it out.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"_Hey babe, what are your plans today?"_ Great. Lauren obviously didn't tell the guys.

"Uh, Lauren, Payson and I are going shopping in Denver. Come with us?"

"_Sure, when are we leaving?"_

"I'm heading to Lauren's house now, so I guess we'll just meet you there?"

"_Sure, gorgeous. See you soon. I love you, Cruz."_ I smiled. Whenever Austin says those three words, eight letters, my heart soars.

"I love you, too, Tucker." I said and we both hung up. I got into my car and pressed the button. My hood slowly opened and was tucked into the compartment neatly. I drove down the driveway and opened the gates. I took a right and headed towards the Tanner mansion. I arrived and pressed the horn three times, signaling that I was here. I saw Payson pull into the driveway and parked behind me. We weren't sure whose car we were taking. Lauren finally came out. She was wearing a flowery romper from Baby Phat and paired it with black wedges.

"We're taking Kaylie's?" Lauren questioned Payson. I turned my head around and saw Payson nod and got out of her car. She was wearing white shorts, a navy blue tank top with a short-sleeved blazer and white sandals. They all got in my car; Lauren in the passenger seat next to me and Payson in the back.

"Are the guys coming?" Lauren asked. I turned to her and smiled.

"Yeah, they are. I had to tell Austin because you, Lo, forgot to," I sighed. Lauren shrugged.

"I knew Austin was going to call you anyways, so I might have just let you tell him," she said innocently.

"Where are they?" Payson questioned.

"They're meeting us at the mall," I replied. I put on my sunglasses and they did the same thing. I stepped on the gas and we were off to Denver.

A short hour later, we arrived at the biggest shopping mall in Denver. I parked my car and we got out. My phone rang. I took it out and looked at the Caller ID. It was Austin.

"Hey, Austin," I said.

"_Hey, where are you guys? We're at Starbucks."_

"Alright, be there soon." Starbucks was on the other side of the shopping mall. It was a five-minute walk but knowing that I was with Lauren, she would want to stop by the shops.

"The guys are at Starbucks. And no, Lauren, you cannot go shopping yet. We'll meet up then go, alright?" I told them and gave Lauren a serious look. She nodded.

We were just talking while walking towards Starbucks. We were right outside and I looked in, looking around for the three guys that we see every single day. I caught sight of them and we began walking towards them. Suddenly, out of nowhere, three girls walked towards their table and sat down in the free chairs with their arms wrapped around the guys' shoulders. I could feel anger rising and I knew that Payson and Lauren felt the same thing. We stopped a few steps away.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked sternly. The laughter from the _skanks_ stopped and they all turned their heads towards us.

"Who do you think you are?" a blonde stood up and placed a hand on her hip.

"The better question, who are you?" Lauren said through gritted teeth.

"I'm Amanda," she replied. "This is Mandy and Nicole." Mandy and Nicole are brunettes. Who the hell are they and what are they doing with _our_ boyfriends? "Your turn."

"I'm Kaylie."

"Lauren."

"Payson."

"I repeat, what the hell is going on here?" I said coldly.

"Why are you being such a bitch? We're just hanging with our boyfriends," the brunette that was Nicole said. What the fuck is she talking about? They were _our_ boyfriends not theirs. Unless. I could feel my heart beginning to break. I looked at the guys and they were just sitting there, looking at us. They didn't even care to explain.

"Austin?" my voice cracked. I looked at him, hurt. He didn't even do so much as move towards me. He just kept sitting there.

"Oh, you know Austin? He's my boyfriend," Mandy said. I took a deep breath.

"Which one of you is with Nicky?" I heard Lauren say, her voice trembling.

"I am," Amanda proudly smirked.

"So I'm guessing you're with Max?" Payson asked Nicole. She nodded and smiled. They moved behind their "boyfriends" and kissed them on the cheeks. I could feel tears threatening to spill.

"Uh, sorry for interrupting your…uh…date. We have to go," I said and turned on my heels, tears beginning to flow. I heard Lauren and Payson following behind me and we went into the bathroom, locking the door so no one would interrupt us.

"Oh my god," Payson finally managed.

"What jerks. They didn't even explain themselves," Lauren said and punched a cubicle. The door swung open and then slowly closed again.

"Wow, so they wanted us to meet them in Starbucks so they could show off their "girlfriends"?" I asked, tears beginning to flow. We just sat there, holding each other, tears streaming out of our eyes. Unbelievable how after _everything_ we've been through, they still had the nerves to cheat on us. Our phones simultaneously rang and we all took it out and looked at the caller ID.

It was from Austin, Max and Nicky. Of course. Now they decide to explain. We all took a deep breath and pressed the Answer button.

"Hello?" we three choked out, throats still dry.

_Austin's POV_

Max, Nicky and I were waiting for our girlfriends at Starbucks. On the way here, we saw a few models we used to hang out with from the past. We ignored them and walked straight to Starbucks.

"So what do you think the girls are going to buy today?" Nicky questioned impatiently. He wasn't one to wait for others.

"I don't know but ser-"

"Hey, babe," a voice interrupted Max. They did not belong to Lauren, Payson and definitely not Kaylie. We turned our heads to the voice and we were faced with what we were trying to get away from.

"Mandy, Amanda, Nicole," I said. The last time we met them, we broke up with them. That was at least a year ago. What the hell are they doing here? Since when were they in Colorado, much less Denver? On this day out of all days?

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Aw come on babe. Why the hostility?" Mandy said and moved towards the empty chair next to me.

"We're serious. Why are you here?" Nicky repeated.

"Nick, I missed you so much!" Amanda replied and moved towards him. Nicky shifted in his seat. Nicole, without even saying anything moved towards Max and sat down next to him. They all draped their hands around our shoulders. What do they think they're doing? Before we could ask them to kindly remove their hands, disaster struck.

"What the hell is going on here?" I heard a voice coldly say. Nicky, Max and I turned our heads away from these models to look at the three petite girls in front of us. Shit.

"Who do you think you are?" Amanda said standing up while putting a hand on her hips. God, her ass is _so_ fine. Wait, Austin, snap out of it! Your girlfriend is standing right there probably heartbroken.

"The better question, who are you?" Lauren said through gritted teeth.

"I'm Amanda. This is Mandy and Nicole." Amanda replied and Mandy and Nicole stood up. "Your turn."

"I'm Kaylie."

"Lauren."

"Payson."

"And I repeat, what the hell is going on here?" Kaylie said with an unfriendly tone in her voice.

"Why are you being such a bitch? We're just hanging with our boyfriends." Wait, what? She said "our boyfriends". Oh crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. I looked at the gymnasts and their faces showed it all – heartbroken. I turned to Nicky and Max and saw that they were frozen in their seats.

"Austin?" Kaylie's voice cracked.

"Oh, you know Austin? He's my boyfriend," Mandy said. Why did she have to say that? I couldn't say anything.

"Which one of you is with Nicky?" Lauren's voice trembled.

"I am," Amanda proudly smirked.

"So I'm guessing you're with Max?" Payson asked Nicole. She nodded and smiled. We were still frozen in our seats, replaying the scene in front of us. Before we knew anything, the models moved behind us and gave us a kiss on the cheeks. Oh great, this does not make it any better.

"Uh, sorry for interrupting your…uh…date. We have to go," Kaylie said and by the looks in her eyes, she was about to cry. They turned and walked away from us. I finally understood what Mandy and her friends were trying to play out. I was finally brought back to reality and I felt a pair of hands around my shoulders, resting on my chest. I quickly grabbed her hands and flung it away from me.

"Ow! What the fuck, Austin?" Mandy screamed.

"You, get away from me. What the hell do you think you're doing?" I couldn't control my anger. Because of this…bitch I may have lost the girl I love, _again_.

"Aussie, don't you remember that night?" she said and moved closer to me. I put my hand out in front of me, stopping her in her tracks.

"No, I don't remember that night. We broke up more than a year ago. Get over yourself and out of my life! For your information, my name is not Australia."

"I don't want you near me, either, Nicole," Max coldly said.

"So who were those three girls? Your girlfriends?"

"Yeah," we three said at the same time.

"Since when? You three _never_ had girlfriends, except for us. You guys were the life of the party. You can't have girlfriends," Amanda scoffed.

"Well, we do. Now if you'll please go and ruin someone else's relationship. We have to call our _girlfriends_," Nicky commanded.

"But-" the three girls said.

"Go away," I said through gritted teeth.

"Fine," they said, whipped their hair, turned on their heels and finally walked out of our lives. We sat back down in our chairs.

"We have to call our girlfriends and try to explain," I breathed. They nodded and we all punched in the number that was imprinted on our brains.

"_Hello?"_ Kaylie said. I could tell she's been crying and she still was crying.

"Kaylie, I need to explain."

"_Go ahead, explain."_

"I dated Mandy over a year ago. I haven't even seen her since the break up until now."

"_Then why did she call you her boyfriend? And why did you not stand up for me?"_

"I was still in the state of shock. My brain was processing the situation in front of me and I wasn't sure if I was going to make matters worst or not."

"_Well I believed her. I mean, she's pretty and tall. She's a model isn't she? I just…when I saw her with you I thought, "They look so good together, they match," and it just made my heart break even more."_

"Oh, Kaylie. Where are you?"

"_Uh, in the bathroom on this floor."_

"I'm coming to get you." I hung up and turned to the guys. They were done talking to their girlfriends.

"They're in the bathroom, we should go get them," I told them. They simply nodded and we took off, leaving our drinks half full on the table. We walked to the girls' bathroom on the same floor and looked around before knocking.

We heard shuffling sounds as if they were getting up, then the water running and a bunch of tissue being used, scrunched up then thrown in the bin.

"They're fixing their make-up," Nicky sighed.

"How'd you know?" Max inquired.

"They're taking a hell lot of time to get ready. So obviously they're fixing their make-up," Nicky explained. So that makes a lot of sense. I nodded and so did Max.

After a short while later, the lock opened and I pushed inwards. Kaylie was the first person I saw.

"Kaylie," I said and went towards her, pulling her into a hug that was half an hour late.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: <strong> haha okay! well we HAD TO PUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT :D hahha! we racked our brains for a good way to put some problems for the guys cause the girls always had problems :D

**Disclaimer:(a little bit) so AMANDA, MANDY and NICOLE belongs to us :D they won't be recurring characters. so this is their, like, one-shot(?) but still, they belong to us. :D**

**_PLEASE REVIEW! xx_**


	10. ALOHA, HAWAII

**Chapter 10**

"Just let them go, Sasha. They did amazing these past few months. They earned the top three spots at Nationals, they're still on the National Team and Worlds isn't until another 7 months. Just let them go," Kim Keeler tried to convince Sasha.

"I know that. But if we let them go, then what about training?"

"See, that's your problem. You need to allow them to take a break. We don't want Kaylie's condition to resurface, do we? And we don't want to put pressure on them when there's not any major meets anytime soon," Summer said.

"Are you sure this would be a good idea?" Sasha countered.

"If I didn't think it would be a good idea, do you seriously think I'd bring it up in the first place?" Kim said and folded her hands across her chest.

Sasha buried his face in his hands, thinking about the option. Yes? No? He doesn't know what to do.

"It's only a few days," Summer assured and moved to put her hand on Sasha's shoulders. He instantly relaxed.

"Fine," he said and lifted his face out of his hands. "I'll let them go."

_Kaylie's POV_

I woke up to the sun peeking in between my curtains. I rubbed my eyes and got out of bed. The first thing I did was check my phone and saw a message from Lauren. It read: _Pay and I will meet you at your house in 20._ The message was sent 10 minutes ago. Great. I had 10 minutes to get ready.

I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth and took a quick shower. I put on my signature pink leotard and took out a black tracksuit. I put on my socks and got out of my room. I went to the kitchen and took out an energy bar and poured a glass of orange juice. I opened the packet and began nibbling on the bar. My doorbell rang and I looked at the clock. They had perfect timing. I hopped off and went towards the door.

"Hey guys," I greeted as I opened the door. I stepped aside and allowed them in.

"Morning," they both said. We went into the kitchen and I took out two more energy bars. One for Lauren and the other one for Payson.

"So, you ready for another day of training?" Lauren sighed.

"You know, I'm actually dreading training more and more," Payson said.

"What? You? Tired of training? That's a first," I giggled. My phone buzzed and I took it out. I looked at the Caller ID and surprise flew across my face. We were still early so why are they calling us.

"It's The Rock," I said. I pressed the Answer button. "Hello?"

"_Kaylie, where are you?"_

"Sasha, I'm still at home. It's still early so I'm not late." Payson and Lauren were as confused as I am.

"_Are you with Lauren and Payson?"_

"Yeah, I'm with them. Sasha, are we in trouble?"

"_Put me on speaker,"_ he commanded. I mumbled an OK and put him on speakers.

"Morning, Sasha," Payson and Lauren both said.

"_Morning girls."_

"What's going on?" I asked.

"_You're not coming to training today, or any day for the next week."_

"What?" we all screamed.

"_You three are going on a holiday, not really a holiday but more of a break." _Am I imagining things? Sasha Belov, the toughest coach, is letting us take a break for a week?

"Uh, why?" Lauren questioned.

"_You guys have done exceptionally well these last few months. Since there are no major meets in the coming few months and Worlds being seven months away, I figured you should go on a well deserved break."_

"Okay?" Payson sighed.

"_You three go get changed, pack and come to The Rock to grab your air tickets."_

"Where are we going?" I asked, excited.

"_Hawaii."_ And with that the line went dead.

Hawaii. It took a while for the news to sink in and when it did, I couldn't hold in my excitement.

"OH MY GOD, WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I jumped out of my seat and began prancing around; Payson and Lauren joining in. We were screaming and laughing.

"Okay, so let's go pack. I'll pick you guys up when I'm done?" I suggested after we calmed down. They nodded and out the door they went. I ran up to my room and began throwing clothes inside: tank tops, shirts, shorts, skirts, bikinis, undergarments and whatever that was necessary for the beach. I pulled on a metallic-purple, silky shirt and tucked it into white denim shorts. I pulled out my Chanel sunglasses and Chanel bag. I stuffed my wallet, passport and camera into the bag and shoved my Blackberry into my pockets. I rushed downstairs and strapped on a pair of white wedges and put in my luggage a pair of flip-flops. I got a text from both Payson and Lauren saying they were done. I grabbed my car keys and out the door I went.

I picked Lauren up first then Payson. We couldn't stop talking in the car about what we were going to do when we arrived in Hawaii. We finally arrived at The Rock and saw that it was 10am. We got out of my car and walked into The Rock. We walked straight towards Sasha's office, ignoring the glances and stares from our fellow teammates.

"Hey, Sasha," I greeted.

"Morning. Here are your tickets. I reserved a suite for you guys at the Hilton. In exactly one week, I expect to see you all back, understood?"

"Yes, Sasha," we said simultaneously. We thanked him, gave him a hug and headed out. On our way out of The Rock, we ran into our boyfriends.

"What are you wearing?" Austin inquired, looking us up and down. We were all in tank tops, shorts, wedges and had sunglasses donned on our heads.

"We're going on a 'break'," Lauren replied, smiling.

"What? Since when?" Max asked.

"Since today, until next week," I answered.

"What did you guys do for Sasha to let you go?" Nicky scoffed.

"Nothing. He was actually the one that told us to go. He booked everything," Payson said and I could see the boys were jealous.

"Well, you guys have fun training. We've got a plane to catch," I smiled and waved our tickets in front of them. I quickly gave Austin a peck on the lips, forgetting the fact that we were in the gym. We all said our goodbyes and drove towards Denver Airport.

About 6 hours later, we finally arrived. We got our luggages and went towards the exit. We put on our sunglasses, hoping that no one would recognize us, but we were wrong. Reporters were already outside, holding their cameras, waiting for us to come out. We saw a Hilton sign and we walked towards it, ignoring the flashing lights.

"Ms. Cruz? Ms. Tanner? Ms. Payson?" we nodded. "Welcome to Hawaii." We said our thanks and got given some leis. He led us towards the limo that was waiting for us but before we could get in safely, reporters were asking us questions.

"Why are you here? How long would you be here for?"

"Uh, for a week. We're taking a break to have fun and relax," I announced.

"How'd you know we're coming here?" Lauren inquired.

"We're the press, of course we know," a reporter replied and the others murmured in agreement. Lauren scoffed and we posed for a few pictures before getting into the waiting limo.

We arrived at the Hilton and checked in. So apparently Sasha reserved us an executive suite. How nice. We quickly dropped our luggages and got changed into our bikinis. We put on what we were wearing earlier, put on some sunscreen, pulling out our sunglasses and headed to the beach.

"Oh my god, this is amazing," Lauren sighed.

"Yeah. How long has it been since we went to the beach?" Payson asked.

"Too long," I breathed. We were all sitting on the beach chairs that were laid out, soaking in the sun, trying to tan. I, myself, am already tanned but you know, there's not harm in getting a little bit tanner.

"Iced tea, anyone?" I asked.

"Yes, please," Lauren said. I got up, took out my wallet and walked towards the closest vendor. I waited in line to get the drinks. I was looking around, admiring the beach and I saw three guys walking towards the vendor. They were hot! I checked them out through my sunglasses. Their six-pack was defined and their biceps were amazing. One was a brunette, the other was a dirty blonde and another was blonde. They all had that "beach" look and I was mesmerized. As they came closer, I recognized the blonde one. Holy shit, it was Tyler Tanner, Lauren's cousin. When I was younger, I had a crush on him and he also had one on me. Then disaster struck and I haven't seen him for at least five years. I quickly turned away from them and concentrated on what I was going to ask for. They lined up behind me. Great.

It was my turn to order. "May I please have three iced teas please?"

"Sure, miss," he replied. He poured three glasses of iced tea and handed them to me. "That would be six dollars." I nodded and looked through my wallet for a five and a one. I finally found them and gave it to the vendor. I took the drinks and turned around, bumping into my worst nightmare.

Crap.

"Uh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," I mumbled, still looking at the iced teas in front of me. Thank god it didn't spill.

"Yeah, no problem," he replied. I didn't recognize the voice so I looked up at him. He was a brunette. Who is this guy?

"Kaylie Cruz?" Oh shit. That voice belonged to Tyler Tanner. I turned my head around and looked at him.

"Uh, yeah. Tyler, hey," I said. He came up to me and gave me a light hug, respecting the fact that I had three glasses of iced tea in my hands.

"What are you doing here?" he asked when he let me go. "Aren't you supposed to be training right now?"

"Uh, coach gave us the week off and told us to go on a break. So here we are."

"We?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah, Payson, Lauren and I," I replied and nudged my elbow in the direction where Payson and Lauren was still sitting.

"Wait, bro, who is this?" the brunette that I bumped into asked.

"This is Kaylie Cruz, my cousin's best friend," Tyler said. He said my name a bit too loud as everyone turned to face us.

"Kaylie, may I please have a photo?" a girl asked. I nodded and smiled towards the camera, trying my best not to spill the drinks. Others were coming towards me, asking for autographs and pictures. Once they were done, I turned back to Tyler and his friends, staring at me.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked.

"Uh, no. But are you famous or something?" the dirty blonde asked.

"She's the two-time National Champion and Worlds gold medalist," Tyler proudly said.

"Holy shit. That's right!" the brunette said in realization.

"How'd you know that, Tyler?" I asked.

"Well, I still follow gymnastics you know. Seeing as you're still in it," he said cheekily. That made me blush. "Oh, I forgot. This is James Moore," he said while pointing at the dirty blonde. "This is Drew Deveux," he said and pointed to the brunette. I simply nodded and weirdly, they embraced me in hugs.

"Do you want to go meet Lauren and Payson?" Tyler nodded and I led them towards my friends. I put the drinks down onto the sand and pulled my sunglasses onto my head.

"Lo, guess who I found," I said while smiling. Lauren looked at the guys behind me and jumped up.

"Oh my god! Tyler!" she shouted and sprang into his arms. Once they separated, Tyler looked at Payson. "Hey, Pay."

"Tyler, how long has it been. Five years?" she said and stood up and gave him a hug.

"Guys, this is James and Drew," I introduced the remaining two guys. I saw Lauren's eyes scan James up and down and I giggled. "Lauren, I saw that," I grimaced and she instantly blushed.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Lauren asked, moving closer to James.

"Uh, same as you guys. Holiday," James replied. I could see James was hooked onto Lauren. But what is she doing? She has a boyfriend for goodness sakes. I could also see Drew kept glancing at Payson but Payson doesn't seem to be noticing.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Drew asked.

"Anyone up for a game of beach volleyball?" I asked cheekily. They all agreed and we got up and moved towards the outlined court. I went to the vendor, again, and bought a volleyball. I walked back to the court and saw that it was a Boys vs. Girls game. I sighed, knowing that the boys would cream us no problem.

My expectations were met. They did beat us by a huge margin. It was 25 to 10. It was slightly embarrassing; seeing as everyone gathered around to watch the three best US gymnasts play volleyball. Even though we lost, the crowd was understanding and still cheered and clapped for us. Some asked for signatures and we happily gave it to them.

We all were walking back to where we kept our stuff and suddenly, Lauren, Payson and I were picked off the ground. I looked at the person that was carrying me, bridal style, and saw that it was Tyler Tanner. Butterflies immediately woke up in my stomach. Yes, I know. I have a boyfriend but its Tyler Tanner. He was probably my first real crush and every time I see him, butterflies do come back. I looked at Payson and saw that Drew picked her up and Lauren was in the arms of James. They ran towards the water and water began splashing around when they got in. Once they were stomach-deep, they dropped us in the water. Lucky for them, we were already in our bikinis. However, I was mad at Tyler, as I didn't want to get my hair wet. I resurfaced and turned towards Tyler, mouth hung open.

"Tyler! I didn't want to get my hair wet!" I said and lightly slapped him across his hard chest. Where my hand touched his chest, I could feel a tingling sensation. I ignored it and began moving towards shore.

"Kaylie," he said and grabbed my arm. "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. I'll give you a piggy back ride later." I looked at him and pondered his request.

"Deal," I said and held out my hand. He took it and shook it. Out of nowhere, Lauren and Payson began splashing water at Tyler and I and saw that Drew and James were also helping them. Tyler moved me behind him and shielded me from the splashing water. I took this opportunity and began splashing water at Tyler. We were all having so much fun in the water. We finally got out and dried ourselves and laid the towels on the sand next to each other. We sat down and talked about what had been happening the past five years.

The sun began to set and I could feel my stomach was empty. Tyler seemed to have read my mind as he said, "Want to go for dinner?" We all nodded and got up. We didn't bother to put our clothes over our bikinis, as the weather was still warm. The guys began to walk towards the restaurant first while we followed behind.

"Hey, want to surprise them like they did to us?" I suggested. They nodded.

"How?" Payson asked. Lauren knew what I was thinking about.

"We jump on their backs," Lauren replied for me.

"Okay, so on three. One…two…three!" I shouted and we began our sprint towards them. When we were close enough, we jumped and landed on their backs. We wrapped our hands around their neck and legs around their waist. They were obviously caught by surprise as they stumbled a few steps forwards. When they saw that it was only us, they took their hands and supported us by holding on to our legs. They carried us the rest of the way to the restaurant, with onlookers and fellow fans staring at us.

_Max's POV_

The girls were in Hawaii, having fun while we stayed here to endure training. Great. Just great. We were waiting for pizza to be delivered. I was on my laptop while Austin and Nicky, next to me, were watching the TV.

"I wonder if the girls are having fun," I sighed.

"Google it. Try "Rock Rebels in Hawaii" or something like that," Austin replied. Huh, that was a good idea. I opened Google and typed in "Kaylie Cruz, Lauren Tanner, Payson Keeler Hawaii". There were a lot of results. I opened the first link and it was titled "Rock Rebels relaxes and have fun on the beaches of Hawaii". It was an article with a whole array of photos that were taken by the paparazzi. I read it.

_Rock Rebels says 'Aloha' to Hawaii! National Champion Kaylie Cruz and her best friends and teammates Lauren Tanner and Payson Keeler were seen stepping off the plane at the Honolulu International Airport. The three donned sunglasses while stepping out. They were greeted by a chauffeur from Hilton Hotels & Resorts and were taken away in a limo. Later that day, they were seen on the beach, showing off their perfect bikini bods in bikinis by Juicy Couture (Kaylie Cruz), J. Crew (Lauren Tanner) and La Perla (Payson Keeler). _

_Kaylie Cruz was then lining up to buy iced teas for her and her best friends. After buying, she was embraced in several hugs by three mysterious guys. She later brought the iced teas and the guys back to Payson and Lauren and they seemed ecstatic to see them. Who are these guys that may be capturing their hearts? Where are their boyfriends Austin Tucker, Nicky Russo and Max Spencer?_

What the hell? Who are these "mysterious guys"? I wanted to know what they looked like so I scrolled down and saw a bunch of photos. Them stepping out of the airport; making their way into the hotel; going to the beach; playing beach volleyball with three guys; getting carried bridal-style by the three guys; swimming around in the sea; the guys giving them piggy back rides.

Wait…WHAT? I scrolled back up to the photos of them getting carried bridal style and saw that they were smiling. What the hell?

"Holy fuck," I choked out.

"What?" Austin demanded, looking at me. Nicky was also now turned to look at me.

"Look at this," I told them and placed the laptop on the table so they all could see. I pointed to the photos of them being carried and the piggy back rides.

"What the fuck?" Austin yelled.

"Who the fuck are they?" Nicky commanded.

"Don't know. All the article says about them is that they were "three mysterious guys". No name, no nothing."

Austin took out his phone and was dialing furiously. He held his phone up to his ear and said calmly into the phone, "Sasha, we need to go to Hawaii."

Nicky and I looked at him. We didn't argue. We knew we had to go and get our girlfriends back from the "three mysterious guys". Who are they? I couldn't figure it out. Do they know them or were they just guys that they just met?

After a few minutes, Austin hung up. "We're going to Hawaii. Go pack. Now."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> So, we took the story into a WHOLE new direction! Reason is we're not exactly gymnastics experts and we don't exactly know the Gymnastics World so they're going on holiday! But **beware**, this is no ordinary vacation!

**REVIEW!** to tell us what you think about it! Much appreaciated! Love, xx


	11. IT'S TIME TO FACE THE MUSIC

**Chapter 11**

_Kaylie's POV_

I was up at 8am and surprisingly, Payson and Lauren woke up at around the same time I did. We took turns in the bathroom and once we were all done, we were sitting in the living room watching Wild Child on the TV.

_Knock-knock_

"I got it," I told them and got out of my comfortable position. All three of us were still in our pajamas.

I slowly opened the door and saw Tyler, James and Drew were dressed and ready to go with a smile on their faces.

"You guys ready?" Drew asked.

"For what? Where are we going?"

"Breakfast. Now come on. Or you'll be late!"

"Alright, come on in. Give us five minutes to get changed." I led them into our suite and told them to sit on the sofa. Lauren, Payson and I took our clothes and walked into the bathroom together. I wore a pair of blue denim shorts and a black Topshop tank. Lauren wore DKNY shorts with a pink French Connection tank top. Payson wore an aqua shirt and tucked it into her black shorts. We walked out together and the three guys looked at us, no they were _staring _at us.

"What?" Lauren asked.

"Nothing. It's just you girls look amazing," James replied. We giggled.

"What? It's just shorts and a tank. Nothing much," I assured them. We made our way towards the restaurant downstairs and got out seats. We were just talking and nibbling on our food when I saw three familiar people walk in. I kept looking at them, trying to put a name on those three faces and it hit me. Austin. Max. Nicky. What the hell are they doing here? This was supposed to be _our_ break. Not theirs. Not that I mind my boyfriend being in awesome Hawaii with me. I looked at the three guys that were sat on my table and placed the puzzle pieces together.

Oh crap. They were here because of those three guys. I knew photographers were following us, they probably got pictures of them carrying us bridal-style and us jumping onto their backs for a piggyback ride. They walked around the restaurant, looking for us. I didn't wait for them to find us so instead, I ran up to him.

"Austin!" I said and jumped into his arms. He was caught by surprise, I could tell. I leaned in for a kiss and he let me, but he didn't kiss me back. I pulled back. "Austin, what's wrong?" He looked at me and took out a piece of paper. I took it and looked, they were filled with photos of us and James, Drew and Tyler.

"Austin, it's not what it looks like," I breathed.

"Then what is it, care to enlighten us?" Nicky asked with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Come with me," I told them and led them to our table. "Lauren, Payson, look who's here." They turned around and once they saw their boyfriends, they got off the table and jumped, like me, into their arms. Our boyfriends were still resistant towards us. Lauren and Payson were also confused as to why they were like this so I explained.

"Austin, Nicky, Max, this is Tyler _Tanner_, Lauren's cousin," I stressed. I looked at them and immediately they relaxed. Now they understood.

"Oh, and this is?" Austin queried.

"This is James Moore and Drew Deveux, my best friends," Tyler introduced.

_Austin's POV_

"Austin, Nicky, Max, this is Tyler _Tanner_, Lauren's cousin," Kaylie said. Tanner. Tyler Tanner. Lauren's cousin. Wait, Lauren's cousin? That made sense as to why they were having so much fun together; they know each other. I let out my breath and relaxed and I could feel Max and Nicky loosen up beside me.

"Oh, and this is?" I motioned towards the other two guys.

"This is James Moore and Drew Deveux, my best friends," Tyler introduced. Now I feel better. There's nothing to worry about.

"You must be?" the guy named James asked. What the hell? He doesn't know who I am? This guy must be living in a cave or some shit. I am Mr. Kobalt; Gymnastics' Bad Boy, how the hell does he not know who I am? Furthermore, I'm the _best_ gymnast in the country, oh and in the whole world, too! I'm the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist for crying out loud. I just stared at him, to see if he was serious, and he was. This guy is pathetic.

"Austin Tucker," I scoffed.

"So you're the infamous Austin Tucker," James asked interestedly. Oh, so he does know who I am. Good for him. I showed him a faint smile.

"These are _my_ best friends, Max Spencer and Nicky Russo," I introduced them.

"We figured that out. Austin never leaves without his best friends," Drew said. Okay, that sounds so wrong. Does he stalk us or some shit?

"How'd you know that?" I simply asked.

"Well, every single magazine, article, you name it, you're always with your best friends," he replied and I looked at him. This guy is seriously stalking me. "Not that I stalk you or anything but ESPN seems to love covering gymnastics. Especially where Austin Tucker is concerned." Oh, right. Okay.

"So, do you guys want to join us for breakfast?" Lauren asked.

"No, we ate on the plane. We're just going to go check-in," Max replied.

"Check in?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, we're staying here with the girls. Enjoy a break," Nicky replied.

"Oh my god, you are? What did Sasha say?" Lauren inquired.

"He let us. He figured that he couldn't just let half of the "It Couples" go while the other half stays at home," Nicky explained.

"So we'll catch you guys later? Go to a movie or something?" I suggested.

"Definitely," Kaylie replied. I leaned in for a kiss and she understood. She responded and we shared a sweet kiss. I pulled back when we were done and saw that Nicky and Lauren and Payson and Max also just shared a kiss. I looked at the three guys and could see a hint of jealousy in there eyes. We gave them a nod and went towards the check-in counter.

"Thank god we didn't cause a scene," Max breathed.

"Yeah, that would have been embarrassing and the girls would've been pissed for sure," I agreed.

"No wonder that guy looked really familiar. The one Kaylie was with in the photos? I've seen him once before like six years ago, or something when I first moved to Boulder. Turns out he was my girlfriend's cousin."

"Huh, whatever. Let's just get our rooms, relax from the flight and get ready for our date," I told them.

_Kaylie's POV_

That whole confrontation went better than I thought it would. I seriously thought Austin, Max and Nicky would pick a fight in the middle of the restaurant. They have self-control. That's great. I could tell they were mad about us being here with three guys for the first day, but that's the point of a "break". You take a break from your daily things. Well, I had a one-day break from my boyfriend. To be honest, I'm happy that they're here, I missed him so much and his goodnight kisses.

"You guys are all taken?" Tyler asked and it snapped me out of my train of thought.

"Uh…yeah. Why'd you ask?" I countered.

"We didn't know," Drew replied.

"But I thought you guys read articles about Austin Tucker?" Lauren joked.

"We don't read Seventeen or People. Those are the dating magazines. We watch ESPN and they only cover the gymnastics' side," James explained.

"Oh, well you know now," Payson sighed. I looked at the guys in front of me and they looked…disappointed? What?

"Kay, Lo, we should get going. For the movies with the guys?" Payson reminded us.

"Oh, yeah. Nearly forgot about that," Lauren said while standing up.

"So we'll see you guys around? We have to go," I looked at the guys.

"Where do you have to go to?" Drew asked.

"Uh, I remember you guys being there when Austin told us we were going to the movies. It was like, what, twenty minutes ago?" Payson exclaimed.

"Yeah, sorry, we'll meet up later, okay?" I said.

"Yeah, no problem, see you guys later." We waved at them and walked towards the receptionist.

"Oh, Ms. Cruz, Ms. Tanner, Ms. Keeler. How may I help you?" the receptionist said softly.

"Could you please tell us which rooms our boyfriends are in?" Payson asked.

"Mr. Tanner, Mr. Deveux and Mr. Moore is in room 1607," she replied.

"Uh, what?" Lauren asked, confused. "They're not our boyfriends."

"Oh, really? They said they were your boyfriends," the receptionist replied. What the hell? Why would they say that?

"There must have been a mistake because our boyfriends are Austin Tucker, Nicky Russo and Max Spencer," I told the receptionist.

"Huh, well I'll tell the other employees about this mix-up. Yes. Their rooms are down the hall from yours. Suite number 2608," she smiled.

"Thank you," I responded. We got in the elevator and pressed the button labeled "26".

"Why would they say that?" I finally asked.

"I don't know, Kay," Payson sighed.

"Well, to be sure, we'll ask them later," Lauren suggested.

"Good idea," Payson agreed and I nod my head. The elevator arrived on the 26th floor and we got out. First stop, we went towards our suite, 2602, to get our bags. After we got our necessary things, we walked down the hall towards suite 2608 and pressed on the doorbell.

The door opened and Max was standing there.

"Hey, you guys ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, just give us a minute. Austin's just putting on his jeans," Max replied. We nodded our heads and waited. Exactly a minute later, the boys came out, dressed down in denim jeans and a simple tee. They took our hands and we headed towards the elevator.

Once we got outside, we six pulled on our sunglasses and strolled hand in hand towards the waiting limo.

"Austin! Max! Nicky! When did you guys get here?" a reporter shouted. We were stopped in our tracks and we faced the jungle of paparazzi.

"We got here this morning," Austin shrugged.

"Why are you here?"

"Is there something wrong with spending time with our girlfriends?" Max asked, clearly annoyed by the mob of paparazzi.

"If you'll excuse us," Nicky stressed and headed in the limo. Shortly, we arrived at the movie theater and we walked in.

"Six tickets to Cowboys & Aliens, please," I said to the clerk.

"No problem, where would you like to sit?"

"Somewhere in the middle would be great."

"Alright, that would be 42 dollars please." I nodded and took out my wallet. I gave her a 50-dollar bill and she returned my change and gave me the tickets.

"Thank you," I said and took off to the refreshments counter with my best friends.

_Tyler's POV_

"So we'll see you guys around? We have to go," Kaylie abruptly said.

"Where do you have to go to?" Drew wondered. Where did they have to go? Aren't they having fun with us?

"Uh, I remember you guys being there when Austin told us we were going to the movies. It was like, what, twenty minutes ago?" Payson said. Oh. So they have to go to their _boyfriends_. Pathetic, really.

"Yeah, sorry, we'll meet up later, okay?" Kaylie apologized. I looked into her eyes and they were gleaming. I wanted to stare into those eyes forever but I guess someone already beat me to that: Austin Tucker. Well, we'll see about that Mr. Kobalt.

"Yeah, no problem, see you guys later." I said, keeping my voice neutral. They waved at us and walked away.

"So, Tanner. Talk. What's up with you and Kaylie?" James wanted to know. Should I tell them about our past?

"Nothing," I mumbled, hoping they'd drop the topic. But, unlucky for me, they didn't.

"Seriously, every time you see her your face lights up and every time you say her name you smile. That's not the Tyler Tanner we know," Drew pressed on.

"Yeah, so spill," James agreed.

"Okay fine," I began. "Five years ago, I was visiting Lauren and her dad in Boulder. There was a party so I went with Lauren and I met Payson and Kaylie. The first time I met her, I developed true feelings, like hard-core ones and throughout my whole visit, I couldn't stay away from her. Then I found out she also feels the same way about me."

"What happened after?" Drew questioned.

"Well, I asked her out to dinner and she said yes. So I picked her up and we went to Le Privilege – one of the best restaurants in Boulder – and we were having fun. But then her parents also decided to eat dinner there, on the _exact same day_. So they saw that we were on a date and long story short, I didn't talk to her or saw her ever since that day."

"Damn," James said.

"Yeah, and now that I saw her again. Well, those feelings are beginning to come back. I was going to find out if she felt the same way or not, but then goddamn that Austin Tucker came and spoilt my plan."

"I know how you feel, bro," Drew said.

"Yeah, me too," James agreed.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" I asked. What? That doesn't make sense. Do they like Kaylie as well? What the shit? "You guys like Kaylie as well?"

"NO!" they both said simultaneously.

"I think I like Payson," Drew explained.

"And I think I like Lauren. I know. I know. She's your cousin but seriously, I think I like her," James choked out.

"Right," I nodded in understanding.

"I seriously want her. But what are we going to do?" Drew muttered.

"I know _exactly_ what needs to be done," I told them in a low voice.

"What is it?" James asked. I didn't reply to him but instead took out my phone. I dialed the number that I memorized so clearly in my head. On the fourth ring, the person picked up.

"_Tyler Tanner, it's been too long." _a deep voice greeted me.

"James, Drew and I need your help," I replied.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> HAWAII :) so, what do you think is Tyler's plan? Oooohhh, its getting spicyy :P hahah!

anyways, same old same old,

please **_REVIEW!_ we appreciate it :) xx**


	12. HOPELESS

**Chapter 12**

_Kaylie's POV_

_Ding-dong_. That was the sound of the doorbell to our suite. Payson, Lauren and I were still in bed, wrapped around by the white duvet. The curtains were closed so no light could peek through. I was still so sleepy so I couldn't be bothered to get up. Payson and Lauren had the same idea as me as they stayed in bed, stirring from side to side. I was in the middle so I was always under threat of being squished like a hot dog.

"Kaylie…go get the door," Lauren mumbled.

"You go. I'm still sleeping," I replied.

"Kaylieeeeeeeee," Payson exaggerated. I sighed in defeat and threw the blanket off – a revenge for making me go get the door.

"Hey!" they both screamed.

"You made me go get the door," I told them and wrapped a bathrobe around me and headed towards the door. I tiredly unlocked the door and pulled it open.

"Surprise!" I jumped back at the sudden outburst and looked up. There stood Drew, James and Tyler holding a bunch of bags.

"Too loud. What are you doing?" I questioned.

"We got you some stuff," Tyler replied and moved in for a hug. I didn't really want him hugging me, in a bathrobe, with my boyfriend just down the hall, so I remained still. By this time, Lauren and Payson were up and stood behind me, hair still a mess.

"What are you doing up so early?" Lauren grumbled.

The guys simply laughed. What the hell were they laughing about?

"Lo, its 11am," Drew chuckled. "Anyways, these are for you guys," he said and handed us the bags.

"What is it?" Payson asked.

"Why?" I uttered.

"Oh come on, can't we give my cousin and her best friends some stuff? We, well _I_, haven't seen you in five years. So these are the belated birthday, Christmas and any other holiday presents," Tyler smiled and handed me three bags. I looked at Lauren and Payson and saw that they both got three paper bags as well.

I peeked in the first bag and saw a box from Yves Saint Laurent. I couldn't contain my excitement. I quickly took out the box and opened the lid. In it was a pair of black gladiators.

"Oh my god! Thank you! Thank you, Tyler! How'd you know I wanted these?" I squealed and lunged towards Tyler for a hug.

After a while, he pulled back and laughed. "I just know you, Cruz." I got back to my seat and Tyler handed me the second back. This time, I recognized it: Balenciaga. I took the wrapped present out and slowly ripped the tissue paper apart. Inside was a silver Balenciaga Pewter. Tyler knows me too well. But how did he know I wanted these things? Five years ago, I wasn't into designer duds like I am today. Five years ago, Lauren, Payson and I were just average gymnasts. Lauren and I did have a few designer bags but that was presents from our parents. We never went shopping for expensive stuff except for leotards. So my question is, how does Tyler know all this? Even Austin, _my boyfriend_, doesn't know I wanted these things. I looked at him and all he did was smile. He gave me the smile that caused me to fall for him five years ago. I looked down and picked up the third paper bag. This time, I didn't recognize the logo.

"What's this from?" I asked Tyler absentmindedly.

"Oh, you don't know it. Well since the other two were designer, I thought I'd just go to some street stores and buy you something that wasn't designer," he explained.

"Oh," I replied and there was a hint of disappointment in my voice. He seemed to have differentiated that as he got out of his seat and came and sat next to me.

"Kaylie, I can go get you Chanel or something," he said softly.

"No, its okay. I haven't even opened it so I shouldn't judge," I replied, forcing a smile on my face. I slowly opened the paper bag, wishing that what he bought could stand up to bar raised by the previous two gifts. I took a breath and looked in. I took the wrapped present out and put it idly on my lap. My fingers were twitching at the bow and I pulled it. The bow was now gone and the paper wrapper opened with it. I gasped. It was the most beautiful charm bracelet I have ever seen. Around the bracelet, the charms were what I loved the most: gymnastics, pink, designer clothes, everything. I turned towards him and embraced him in a hug.

"Thank you," I whispered into his ears. His hands moved around my waist and began rubbing my back in circles. I pulled back and looked at him, a smile spreading across my face.

"I customized the charm bracelet for you," he said.

"Thank you," I repeated and held out my wrist and the charm bracelet. He understood and clasped it on my wrist.

"So, what are you girls planning to do today?" Drew asked. I turned to look at the rest of my friends and saw that Payson and Lauren were ecstatic with their gifts.

"Uh, not sure," Payson said. That's right, we forgot to plan what we were doing today. Damn.

"Maybe we could just have a day to ourselves. You know, girls only?" Lauren suggested. The thought of having a girls' day out sounded appealing to me.

"That'll be awesome," I agreed with Lauren.

"Yeah, we haven't had one of those in forever," Payson said.

"What? We had one the day before Emily left, remember?" I reminded Payson.

"No. That didn't count. That was a girls' _night_ out and we didn't do anything except gossip," Payson explained.

"Right," I understood. I turned to the guys, "So there's our answer: girls' day out."

The boys laughed. "Okay, we'll leave you guys to it and see you all tonight? Your boyfriends, too?" James asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler shoot James a death glare. What was that about? I couldn't be bothered to ask and I just nodded my head. The boys filed out of our rooms and we were left to enjoy our day.

"You know, we should wear our new things that Drew, James and Tyler kindly bought for us," Lauren proposed.

"Sounds good, let's get ready," Payson stated.

I went towards my luggage and pulled out a pair of black high-waist shorts and a cropped "I LA" tee. I strapped on my new black YSL gladiators. I took out my wallet; camera; sun block and a map from my Chanel bag and put it into my silver Balenciaga Pewter. I admired myself in the wall-length mirror in our suite and the outfit seemed to fit perfectly. I smiled and turned towards my friends.

Lauren was wearing ripped, dark-blue denim shorts and a strapless beige Gucci shirt (a gift from James). She put on her new beige Mary Janes (also from James) and a golden necklace that had her named carved (courtesy of James). She paired her look with a Prada purse.

I turned to see Payson fixing the hem of her skirt. She wore a baby blue Chloe skirt (from Drew) and a blank tank top that she neatly tucked into her skirt. She wore a new Swarovski head band (obviously from Drew) and a pair of Coach wedges. Lastly, she put on her new Chanel ring (Drew's present) and took out her Gucci bag.

We all stood side-by-side and admired our outfit.

"This calls for one of those teen moments," Lauren said.

"A what?" I giggled.

"You know, we take a picture and make silly faces," Lauren replied. I shook my head jokingly at her and reached into my new Balenciaga Pewter and pulled out my camera. I took the picture and we carried on doing that for a solid five minutes. We pulled as many poses as we could and by the end, we were laughing our heads off at our "teen moment". Our doorbell rang which automatically ended our "photo shoot". I was closest to the door so I opened it.

"Hey," I uttered while moving towards my boyfriend to give him a kiss. Lauren and Payson did the same thing. I pulled back and looked my boyfriend and his best friends up and down. They were wearing board shorts, a simple V-neck tee, sunglasses, and flip-flops.

"Where are you guys going?" Max asked.

"Oh, we're having a girls' day out. _No boys_," I told them.

"What? And here we were, thinking we'd have a day with our girlfriends by the beach," Austin gave me a pout.

"Sorry! Tomorrow?" I looked at him and wrapped my hands around his neck. He nodded and I leaned in. Our lips met halfway. I pulled back after a while, remembering that there were others around.

"New clothes?" Nicky asked all three of us.

"Uh, yeah," Lauren stuttered.

"Cool, when did you guys find the time to shop?" Max asked. Oh crap. If they find out that Tyler and his friends went on a spree for us, well-

"Tyler, Drew and James bought them for us," Payson said and interrupted my thoughts. Damn it. I looked at the guys and their facial expressions said it all. Why, oh, why did you have to say that, Payson? Lauren and I stared at Payson in disbelief and she finally caught on.

"Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that," she mumbled.

"Well, uh, we should go. Don't want to waste your tanning time and we need to go shopping," I said and pulled Lauren and Payson by their elbows out the door. I turned and gave Austin a quick peck on the cheeks and rushed to the elevators.

"Payson!" Lauren said first.

"Sorry! I wasn't thinking," Payson apologized.

"Oh, man. What are they going to do?" I questioned. Knowing our boyfriends, I wouldn't be surprised if the door to Tyler's room was knocked down.

"Um, how about we forget about it? Enjoy our girls' day out. No guys. None, at all," Lauren recommended. I nodded and so did Payson.

_Tyler's POV_

"Why the hell did you say we'd meet them _and_ their boyfriends?" I demanded.

"Well, at that time, I wanted it to be subtle. You know. Not obvious otherwise they'd know something's up," James retorted.

"James does have a point, Ty. They're not as stupid as you said they were," Drew sighed. "We might need another plan if we really want them to be ours."

"You're right. What we've got planned tonight will not be enough. We need something else. But what?" I wondered. Before we could dive into planning Part B to the "We want the Rock Rebels" plan of ours, a knock stopped us. I got up and walked towards the door. I opened it.

"Oh, hey. Austin, what's up?" I asked and the next thing I knew, a sharp pain ignited from my abdomen. I looked down and saw Austin's fist against my stomach.

_Austin's POV_

Max, Nicky and I were dressed in board shorts and a simple tee, wanting to spend some time at the beach with our girlfriends. But here we are, outside their room, looking at them. Them three were dressed casually and they were wearing heels. Obviously they weren't planning to go to the beach. Apparently, they're having a _girls' day out_. Well, I guess they deserve it with everything that's happened. Nicky, Max and I always had guys' night out.

"New clothes?" Nicky asked all of a sudden. I didn't notice that before. I looked at Kaylie and she was wearing a new pair of shoes, a new bag and a new bracelet. I've got to admit, that bracelet was stunning – a lot like my Kaylie Cruz. Even with the high-waist shorts – that's what they were called, right? – I could see a part of her flesh below where her tee ended. Her tanned skin definitely turned me on.

"Uh, yeah," Lauren stuttered. What's with the stuttering? Kaylie, Payson and sure as hell Lauren never stuttered. What are they hiding?

"Cool, when did you guys find the time to shop?" Max asked. Huh, I was wondering the same thing.

"Tyler, Drew and James bought them for us," Payson said. What? Those three – what should I call them, douche bags? – bought stuff for _our_ girls? I could feel anger rising and I stared blankly at Kaylie. Kaylie, however, was staring at Payson, wide-eyed.

"Oh, I wasn't supposed to say that," Payson mumbled. Damn right you shouldn't.

"Well, uh, we should go. Don't want to waste your tanning time and we need to go shopping," Kaylie quickly said and pulled Lauren and Payson by their elbows. She turned and gave me a quick peck on the cheeks. Cheeks? What? Why only cheeks? What about my lips? Damn you Tyler Tanner.

"What the hell?" Max said.

"They bought things for _our_ girls?" Nicky rhetorically questioned.

"This. Is. War," I said, refraining from punching the wall. We were going to look for them but we didn't know what room they were in. We went down to reception.

"Mr. Tucker, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Russo, what can we-"

"What room is Tyler Tanner in?" I demanded, cutting off the male receptionist.

"Are you a friend of his?" the receptionist questioned. Oh my god. Are you serious? Does it look like I'm friends with that ass? I couldn't contain my anger anymore. I slammed my palm onto the table, making the receptionist jump and everyone turn towards us.

"Just give me the damn room number!" I yelled. I was mad. When Austin Tucker is mad, well, let's just say there's hell to pay. I felt sorry for the receptionist, he didn't do anything wrong to deserve this. But I didn't care at this moment.

"Uh, room 1607," the receptionist hurriedly said.

Nicky, Max and I stomped towards the elevators and we literally punched the button that illuminated the number 16.

"They're not even staying in an executive suite. Pathetic," I scoffed.

"What are you planning to do, Austin?" Max asked. I shot him a look.

"You'll find out," I replied. We reached floor 16 and I ran towards their room. I knocked on the door and waited for the bastards to open it.

"Oh, hey. Austin, what's up?" Tyler asked, opening the door. What's up? What's up is that you're about feel the wrath of Mr. Kobalt. I smirked and punched him in the abdomen. I remember doing this before, to Damon. Thinking about it, I punched two people because of Kaylie. My Kaylie Cruz.

"What the hell, man?" Tyler whimpered, holding himself against the wall. Drew and James got out of their bed and went towards the door to see what the commotion was.

"That's for buying things for _our_ girlfriends," Nicky chimed in.

"What's the problem? It's only clothes and accessories. What's the big deal?" James shrugged.

"The big deal is that they are _our_ girlfriends. Not yours," Nicky reminded.

"Also, we owed you guys a few punches from carrying _our_ girlfriends bridal-style and giving them piggy back rides," Max stated. And with that, I punched Tyler, again; Nicky punched James and Max punched Drew. They recoiled, holding a hand to their stomach. Without another word, we turned and stomped towards the elevator.

"That felt good. Releasing my anger," I said.

"Yeah. I know," Nicky said and Max nodded.

_Kaylie's POV_

So we decided to hop on the limo and told him to drive us towards the biggest shopping mall. We spent at least 6 hours there. Going to our favorites stores such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Prada and of course, Forever 21. This shopping spree, I didn't get much except a few rings from Chanel and a few necklaces from Forever 21. We didn't seem to be "in the mood" for shopping today. We barely had any bags with us. We got out and decided to walk along the road, not knowing where it took us. The sky was getting dark quickly and we weren't sure where we were. We were getting hungry so we stopped by a restaurant on the side of the road.

We three ordered a salad and a few sandwiches and glasses of water. We gulped it all down and paid for our dinner. We got out and continued on our journey to find where the hell we were.

"Where are we?" Lauren asked.

"Honestly, Lo? No idea," I breathed. Could we be lost?"

"Hey, pretty ladies," a voice said and we heard footsteps behind us. Oh crap. Shit. Fuck. Damn. Oh my god.

"Just keep walking," Payson said loud enough so that only Lauren and I could hear.

"Aw, babe, come on. We just want to have a little fun here," another voice said. We ignored it and kept walking straight. We held onto each other's hands. We heard the footsteps quicken and at that moment, we knew we were screwed. We were wearing heels and we couldn't run fast in them. A hand caught my waist and whirled me around.

"You're hot, babe," the man said and leaned towards me while I tried to squirm out of his grasp.

"Let go of me!" Lauren shrieked.

"What's going on here?" I heard another deep voice said and the guys that were holding on to us stopped and turned us towards them. They slightly bowed and I figured that this was their boss.

"What have we here," he said victoriously, clasping his hands together. "Kaylie Cruz."

"How do you know me?"

"Don't be so modest, darling. Everyone knows who you are. I see you're with Payson and Lauren. Has your parents never told you to go walking in a dark street, especially at night?" None of us said a word so he continued, "What brings you three down this side of the island?" We stayed silent once again.

"Answer him," the guy that was holding my waist hissed, tightening his grip on me. I felt his hands move from my waist towards the front of my shorts, resting his hand on the top of my shorts with his thumbs inside the shorts. I froze. "Answer him," he demanded again.

"We went shopping and just followed the road and somehow we ended up here," I mumbled.

"I see. Where's your boyfriends?"

"At the hotel," I heard Lauren say. I looked at her for the first time since the boss showed up. The guy holding her was now placing kisses on her shoulder blades.

"What do you want from us?" Payson said. I turned to look at her and a guy was rubbing her thighs. She was in the most danger – she was wearing a skirt. I looked at my best friends' faces and could see they were frightened. All of a sudden, I could feel the vibration of my phone through the pockets of my shorts. The guy behind me felt it too as he fished the phone out of my pocket and looked at the Caller ID.

"It's your boyfriend," he said and then chuckled.

"We're going to answer it, but you cannot say a word. If you do, well, let's just say it won't be nice," the boss said. I nodded. The guy pressed the _Answer_ button and put Austin on speakers.

"_Kaylie? Babe?"_ No answer.

"_Kaylie? Where are you?"_ No one moved.

"_Kaylie? Kaylie! Are you okay?"_ I could tell his voice was now becoming urgent.

"_Kaylie, where are you? I'll come get you."_ I could feel the urgency in his voice.

"Bye, Austin," the voice said and he pressed the _End_ button.

_Austin's POV_

It was getting later every second and the girls were still no where to be seen. Where could they be? I took out my phone and called Kaylie. It rung. Once. Twice. Three times. Finally, she picked up. Max and Nicky were sitting with me, impatient.

"Kaylie? Babe?" I asked. No answer. What? Is she okay? I looked at the guys.

"Put it on speaker," Max said. I nodded my head and put her on speaker.

"Kaylie? Where are you?" Still, she didn't answer. What is wrong with her? She picked up and now she won't answer?

"Kaylie? Kaylie! Are you okay?" I urgently questioned. Nothing from her. This is not like her.

"Kaylie, where are you? I'll come get you," I shouted but still, she didn't answer.

"_Bye, Austin,"_ a deep voice said. That voice didn't belong to Drew, James or Tyler. I looked at Nicky and Max and saw they were shocked. What is happening to the girls? Where are they?

"Dude. Who the hell was that?" Max uttered.

"No fucking idea," I replied.

"Are you sure that was her number?" Nicky asked. I looked at my recent calls list and nodded. It was most definitely she.

"I think we should call 911," Nicky said. I typed in the three short numbers into my phone and pressed call.

"Hello. My name's Austin Tucker. My best friends, Max Spencer and Nicky Russo, and I need your help."

"_Mr. Tucker. How may we help you?"_

"Our girlfriends are missing. I'm afraid they may have been kidnapped," I said quietly. After a while, I hung up.

_Kaylie's POV_

Our one chance of getting out of this mess was gone. _He_ hung up on my boyfriend. What is going to happen now? The boss moved closer towards me and leaned in. He was about an inch away from my lips.

"Please, don't," I breathed. He placed his hands on my shoulders and went for it. I squirmed in his grasp. I lifted my legs and kneed him in the groins. He automatically moved back and fell to his knees. Because of this simple act, all hell broke loose. The guys turned us around and faced them. This time, they were going in for the act and not waiting for the boss anymore. The guy was placing butterfly kisses on my neck and I couldn't get free. I was trapped.

"Hey, get the fuck away from our girls you shit heads!" a voice screamed. I recognized that it was Tyler's. A blur of motion happened before my eyes and I saw the guy that was holding on to me collapse and held onto his nose, which was now bleeding. Tyler, Drew and James brought the other guys down quickly and pulled us away from the dark street and onto the main street.

"Oh my god. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't think I can thank you guys enough!" Lauren said once we were surrounded by the moving traffic.

"You guys saved our lives," Payson muttered and gave Drew a peck on the cheeks. What would Max think if he saw that? But at this moment, none of us cared. We were away from those…those _creeps_.

"Oh my god, Tyler. How'd you know where we were?" I asked.

"Well, the limo driver said you guys went to the mall so we went there when you guys didn't come back to the hotel. We looked around and you guys weren't there so we went along the streets and asked the people in the stores on the street. Of course they knew who you were and slowly, we arrived here after asking about a hundred shopkeepers," Tyler replied. I took no time in hugging him. Once I pulled back, I gave him a "thank you" kiss.

"We should be heading back," James said. We nodded and went to the nearest bus stop. We weren't sure which bus we needed to take and it was almost midnight.

"Where are you guys going?" the bus driver asked when he pulled up to the bus stop.

"Uh, the Hilton?" I replied.

"Well, I'm not going to the Hilton but this is the last bus shift for tonight. I can get you guys to the main area," he said. We nodded and got on, paid the bus fee and sat down in the seats.

"We're getting off here," Tyler said fifteen stops later. Payson, Lauren and I nodded and picked up our bags and got off. Tyler seemed to have known the way around as he was leading us. We filed into a taxi that was waiting nearby and Tyler instructed him where to go. We got off and it looked remote. There were no tall buildings anywhere and there were barely any shops.

"Uh, where are we?" Lauren asked.

"I'm not sure, Lo," I began.

"For all I know, we're not in Honolulu anymore," Payson said.

"How do you know?" I questioned. Payson pointed to the board that said, 'Welcome to Loakai'.

"Where's Loakai?" Lauren said.

"It's a village," James replied.

"What? Why aren't we in Honolulu?" Lauren snapped.

"I told the cab to go to the Kalia but I guess I was speaking too fast and so here we are, in Loakai."

"What the hell? Those two places doesn't even sound similar," Lauren said. She has a point.

"Yeah, I know. Seems like the cab driver is kinda…you know. But since we're here, we should stay for the night at least. It's like 1 in the morning right now," James said. We all agreed and went into the rest house in this village.

_Tyler's POV_

We got two rooms in the rest house: one for the girls and one for us. So far so good.

"So, what happens next?" James asked, sitting on one of the beds.

"We keep them here for as long as possible," I smirked.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> HEY EVERYONE. sorry for the late update! as you all know, school started! YEEEPP. Junior year's going pretty well but i'm flooded with homework from AP BIO! so how's school for all of you?

anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. what do you guys think Tyler's motives are? :D

i'm not making promises right now because, well, school's here! so anyways,

**_REVIEW! xx_**


	13. MISSING

**Chapter 13**

_Austin's POV_

Max, Nicky and I were up all night wondering where our girlfriends were. We continuously called them but this time, they could not be reached. They were apparently somewhere without cell service.

"What are we going to do?" Max asked.

"We wait," Nicky replied.

"Yeah, we sit, worry and wait. The police are looking for traces. We'll find them soon," I told them. "Should we tell Tyler, Drew and James?" The thought of telling them that our girlfriends were gone is enough to get me pissed.

"I guess we should, even with how much we hate them," Nicky said harshly.

"Alright, let's go then," Max said and we all stood up. We got out and went towards the elevators.

_Ding_. The elevator chimed, signaling that the elevator was here. We got in and pressed the 16th floor.

_Ding_. We arrived, got out and strolled towards their room. We knocked on their door but there was no sound coming from the inside. We waited for a while.

"They're probably out somewhere," I said.

"Yeah, let's go ask the receptionist," Max said and we all agreed. We went back towards the elevators and went down to the lobby.

"Hey, where'd Tyler Tanner go?" I questioned. The receptionist was still afraid of me from what I pulled on him last night. "Oh, sorry about yesterday," I smiled at him.

"It's okay, Mr. Tucker," he replied. "Mr. Tanner and his friends have not been back to the hotel since last night." Weird. Same as the girls. Hold up. Were they with the girls? What did they do to them?

"What time did they go out last night?" Max asked, obviously piecing the puzzle pieces together like I was.

"Around 8," he replied. I looked at Max and Nicky and saw they had the same understanding as I did. They could have been the people kidnapping the girls. They're smart, changing their voices like that. But obviously, not smart enough.

"Thank you," I said and began turning around.

"Wait, Mr. Tucker," I turned back around to face the receptionist. He was sifting through a pile of papers and finally found the envelope he was looking for. "This came for you this morning," he said, handing me the envelope.

"Thank you," I repeated and walked away with Nicky and Max by my side.

"What is it?" Max asked, intrigued.

"Don't know. It's labeled for the three of us," I said while opening the envelope. Inside was a letter, well, more like a note.

_Good luck finding your girls,_ I read. What does that even mean? My eyebrows were scrunched together, trying to understand the five-word message.

"What does it say?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"I said, what does it say?" Nicky said.

"Oh, uh, five words. "Good luck finding your girls" was all it said. What does that even mean?" I told them.

"Do you think-"

"I don't think. I know," Nicky interrupted Max. I looked at him, confused. "_They_ have our girls." Then it all clicked together. The note, the guys being gone since last night, the weird phone call. They're keeping our girls away. But the more important question is, why?

"We should give these to the police. Didn't they say we had to go meet them this morning or something?" Nicky suggested.

"Yeah, I nearly forgot about that. They said to come in at 11," I looked at my watch and it read 10:30. "We should get going now," I said and we walked out of the hotel and into the limo that was waiting outside for us.

We arrived at the police station shortly after. We got out and went in. There were people rushing around, waiting, talking to policemen, crying, being locked up and everything else. It was a mess in there. We went straight to the main table and stood in front.

"How may I help you?" a female officer said without looking up from the computer screen.

"Uh, yeah. I called in last night about girls that may have been kidnapped?" I told the officer.

"May I have your name please?" she said, still looking down.

"Uh, Austin Tucker," I said and her fingers stopped typing and she snapped her head up.

"Mr. Tucker," she said, a smile flashing across her face.

"That's me," I smirked back.

"Uh, before anything, may I have your autograph?" I chuckled and nodded my head. She passed me a piece of paper and a pen.

"Who shall I make this to?"

"Melissa Cooper," she smiled. I nodded. I wrote down her name, a few words of encouragement then signed my name underneath. I gave it back to her and she was just staring at it, she looked star struck.

"Are you here about the phone call last night saying your girlfriends may have been kidnapped?" she asked and we three nodded. "Oh, you must be Max Spencer and Nicky Russo," they nodded. "Please?" she said and passed the paper and pen that I used previously and they chuckled, agreeing to sign it.

"Anyways, is there someone we can talk to about this?" Nicky said once they were done signing.

"Oh, yes. Officer Johnson has been looking for traces. You may go talk to him," she said. She pointed to a stall to the right of us. "He's the second one on the right."

"Thank you, officer," we three said simultaneously. We headed in the direction she told us to go.

"Uh, Officer Johnson?" Max said at the man that was writing a report. His head turned to us and we gave him a faint smile.

"May I help you three?"

"Uh, we're here about the call we made last night? About our girlfriends?" Max reminded him.

"Oh, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Russo," he said and stood up, holding out his hand. We each shook it one by one. "Please, sit down," he instructed us. We took our seats on the outside of his desk.

"So, did you find any leads as to where our girlfriends may be, Officer Johnson?" Nicky asked.

"Please, call me Matt. No need to be formal here, after all," we laughed. "But sadly, no. We haven't been able to track them down yet. Do you have any information that may help us?"

"Uh, yeah," I told him. "There's three guys that were with us, Tyler Tanner, Drew Deveux and James Moore. They're also missing since last night as well."

"So is there a connection between these two?"

"Well we were thinking that maybe they were with our girlfriends, you know? They may have taken them somewhere, but we're not entirely sure," Nicky informed Matt.

"Yeah, and we got this note this morning," I said and reached into my back pocket and fished out the envelope. I gave it to Matt and he took a look at it.

"Do you know who sent it to you?"

"No idea, the receptionist gave it to us this morning," Max said.

"Did you ask the receptionist who gave it to him?"

"Yes," I said. Wait, no we didn't. "Uh, actually we didn't. We came straight here after receiving it."

"I see. What hotel are you staying at?"

"The Hilton, sir," Nicky said.

"Alright, I'm going to give them a call and ask." He picked up the phone and dialed the number.

"Morning, this is Officer Johnson from the Honolulu Police Department," he said and put the phone call on speakers.

"_Officer Johnson, how may we help you?"_

"I was calling in referral to the note that Mr. Tucker, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Russo got this morning."

"_Oh, yes. How can we help you with this note?"_

"Do you know who sent the note?"

"_A man dressed in black walked in and passed the note and went straight out."_

"Did you see what his face looks like?"

"_He was wearing sunglasses so I didn't get a good look at his eyes."_

"Did you notice anything else about him?"

"_I'm sorry, no. He gave me the note and said "Give it to Austin Tucker and his friends" then left. His voice was raspy, but not those natural raspy-voice. I think he tried to change his voice."_

"Alright, thank you."

"_No problem, Officer. Have a nice day."_

"You, too." Matt said then hung up. "Well, that's all we have about the man who sent the note. It's not much, but it'll do right now."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Nicky asked.

"Well, you guys just enjoy your holiday and keep calling them to see if they can tell us anything-"

"Oh about that. They're apparently in an area that has no service," I interrupted Matt. "Sorry for interrupting, by the way."

"It's okay. That's information we can use. It's good," he nodded. "Alright, I'll call you if I get anything," he said and stood up. We got up as well and we walked us out and into the limo.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> okay so first thing, we got like a bad review. and that's okay. cause we know that some are prone to not like it so we just want to say: IF YOU DON'T LIKE OUR STORY, DON'T READ IT because you're just gonna keep hating it. and plus, this is FANFICTION. we are allowed to use our imagination and we do appreciate the reviews but if you don't like it, then please don't bring our moods down! we spent a LOT of time planning and writing these stories so the most you can do is be positive towards us.

that's all we wanted to say. So, **_leave a review! xx_**


	14. LOAKAI

**Chapter 14**

_Kaylie's POV_

I woke up bright and early to the sound of Lauren and Payson scuttling around the room.

"What are you guys doing?" I said sleepily.

"Checking out this room. It seriously sucks. There's no complimentary water, no towels, no bath robes, no nothing," Lauren complained.

"What did you expect, Lauren? It's a rest house, in a _village_," Payson said.

"Still, you'd think they'd put something in this room, seeing as the three best female gymnasts are staying in it!" Lauren protested.

"At least there's a bathroom and a shower," I said.

"We should get ready for breakfast or something," Payson said. I nodded and got out of bed. I went into the bathroom and stood in front of the sink. There were three toothbrushes and only one still inside its cover – so I'm guessing that was my brush. I took it out, squeezed some toothpaste onto it and began brushing my teeth. After I was done, I splashed water on my face, not knowing it was cold and I recoiled internally at the touch of it. I got out and saw Payson and Lauren sitting at the edge of the bed.

"I'm done. Let's go find ourselves some breakfast," I announced and we got up and walked out of the room. We went downstairs to the main area and saw Drew, James and Tyler talking to the old lady behind the counter.

"Morning," I exclaimed and the boys turned around, smiling at us. We walked up towards them and they gave us a hug.

"So, how was your sleep?" Tyler asked.

"Ugh, painful. The mattress is really hard," Payson grumbled.

"How's your room?" Drew asked.

"Sucks shit. Nothing in it, at all," Lauren whined.

"Excuse me, ma'am. But is there a convenient store in this village?" I asked the old lady behind the counter politely.

"Yes, there's one a few houses down," she replied with a smile.

"Thank you," I said and turned to Lauren. "See? Problem solved."

"Fine," she shrugged. "But I need food." My stomach grumbled in agreement. All I ate last night was a small salad and one sandwich. I'm starving.

"Me, too. Let's go find some food," James led us out of the rest house.

We arrived at a local café and found a table big enough for the six of us. We ordered some sandwiches and a few glasses of water. I needed to call Austin to tell him where we were and why we've been MIA last night. I took out my phone and began dialing Austin, but there was an error.

"What the hell?" I said. "There's no cell service around."

"What? Are you serious?" Lauren asked. At the same time, a waitress brought out our foods.

"This village isn't rich enough to afford mobile phones and so the telephone company didn't even bother expanding the range here. So we've got no communication to the outside world," the waitress said while settling down our foods.

"What do you mean? Sure you have tourists come by once in a while, right?" Payson questioned.

"No. None at all. We've never had an outsider visit our village. That is until you six came along last night. I'm surprised the cab driver knew where this village was." Huh. That's weird. How did the driver know this place if they have no access to the outside world?

"Do you have a land line that we could use?" Lauren asked.

"Sorry, we've got none. No internet and no phones," she replied.

"So how are we supposed to ask for a taxi to get back to Honolulu?" I asked.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to, unless you walk to Honolulu, which is approximately 50 miles away," she smiled.

"Walk? Are you kidding me?" Lauren exclaimed.

"Not at all. In this village, we walk everywhere," she smiled and went away.

"She seriously expects us to walk 50 miles in heels? She's crazy," Lauren nagged. I noticed we were all still wearing what we wore from yesterday. At least they were comfortable, except for the heels that are now beginning to hurt my feet.

"Better question. How would we even know which way to go?" Payson said. That reminded me. I had a map in my bag. Oh my god! That could be our lifesaver. We could figure where we are!

"Oh my god. I have a map in my bag," I told them. Lauren and Payson were ecstatic but the guys were…scared? Why were they scared? Shouldn't they be happy that we'd be out of here soon? I reached into my bag and took out the map. I laid it on the table. We were looking everywhere in the 50-mile radius to see where Loakai was. We couldn't find it anywhere.

"What? Why isn't this village on the map? Was it under another name?" Lauren asked. I put my hand up and the waitress came towards us.

"Is there anything you need?"

"Yes. We have a map here but we can't find this village anywhere," I told her, pointing towards the map. Her face was shocked. Why is she shocked? What is going on? She looked at Tyler and I saw that his face was pale and his mouth was pulled into a tight line. This is weird. She looked back at me and took a while before answering me.

"Well…uh…well, you see. Loakai used to be on maps, in the old ones that were around, like, 20 years ago or something. But recently, we were considered to be unimportant so they removed us from the map," she explained, while stuttering in the beginning.

"Oh," Payson managed. "Do you have a copy of the old maps around?"

"Not that I know of, no," she smiled. "Is that all?" I nodded and she walked away.

"That's weird. Do you think she's hiding something?" I asked.

"NO!" Tyler yelled. "I mean, no. She's not. What is there to hide, anyways," Tyler said in a softer tone.

"Okay, but you didn't need to yell at Kaylie, Tyler," Lauren said.

"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it," I said.

"Sorry, Kaylie," Tyler apologized. I smiled at him half-heartedly. I wasn't in the "happy" mood today. Want to know why? I'm stuck, in a village, in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knows we're here. I'm away from my boyfriend and he's probably worried sick. I miss Austin.

_Austin's POV_

Officer Johnson hadn't called us, which meant he has no leads to where they were. Where are they? Kaylie, where are you, gorgeous?

"Dude, what if they were murdered?" Nicky said.

"What the hell?" I snapped. "Don't say that, seriously."

"I'm just saying. I mean, we don't know where they are and their phones can't be reached. Incidentally, the other guys have disappeared as well. Seems obvious that the guys are with the girls," Nicky explained.

"Yeah, but how does that explain them being murdered?" Max backed me up.

"I'm just saying," Nicky shrugged.

My thoughts drifted back to Kaylie Cruz; the girl that captured my heart. She's a perfect little brunette. The way she used to push me away made we want her even more. I just had to pay attention to her, no matter what. See, I tried to pursue Emily, Payson and at one time, Lauren. But then it all comes back to _her_. To Kaylie Cruz. Just thinking about her makes me smile. Oh my god, what is happening to me? I'm Mr. Kobalt, Gymnastics' Bad Boy. I don't feel this way about _any_ girl before. But then again, Kaylie Cruz isn't just a girl; she's _the_ girl.

"I love you, Kaylie Cruz," I heard myself whisper.

"I think we all know that by now, Austin," Nicky mocked me. I smirked at his attempt.

"I know, but I'm Mr. Kobalt, I shouldn't-"

"Yes, Austin, we know. You're the king of hook-ups. You shouldn't love a girl. We understand," Max interrupted me.

"I know, but-"

"But you're Austin Tucker," Max interrupted me, again. I glared at him. "Sorry, but we've heard this too many times."

"Austin, you and Kaylie, you're like magnets. See, whatever you do, you always attract each other. Even when you're the same pole, you still attract," Nicky said and I gave him a confused look.

"What?"

"North and North doesn't attract, they repel," Max said.

"Exactly," Nicky explained.

"Okay, that doesn't even make sense, Russo," I smirked.

"No, it does. Listen to me. North and North are supposed to repel, right?" Max and I nodded. "But even when you're North and Kaylie's North, you still attract. Your level of attraction is undeniable."

"Okay?" I said, still confused. "Would you care to explain all that in _normal_ English?"

"Technically, no matter what you do, you attract each other," Nicky sighed.

"When you put it that way, I see what you mean," I nodded my head slowly.

"I know what your problem is," Max said.

"What? I don't have a problem. What are you talking about?" I was surprised. No one's _ever_ said Austin Tucker had a problem.

"No, you do have a problem, Austin," Nicky agreed.

"And may I ask what this problem is?"

"You're in love with Kaylie Cruz," Max and Nicky said simultaneously.

"What? Of course I know that. I love Kaylie. Isn't it obvious?"

"No, Austin. You don't just _love_ Kaylie, you're _in love_ with her," Nicky clarified.

"Yeah. You're in love with her until the point that you could _not _live without her," Max elucidated.

"Huh," I sighed.

"Austin, I believe you've finally reached the point where you go out and buy her the one thing that all girls love," Nicky said.

"And what is that?" I said, not knowing what the hell Nicky is implying.

"Oh, my god. You are so clueless!" Max said in defeat. I am clueless.

"It's that thing that is in a little jewelry box and you get down on one knee," Nicky said. Then it all sank in. I'm _in love_ with Kaylie Cruz. I want to marry her. I _need_ to marry her. She was, and still is, my significant other.

"I don't think Kaylie wants to take that humongous step right now. She's still focused on the Olympics, and we should be too," I sighed.

"You fucking idiot," Max said.

"Oy, who are you calling an idiot?" I playfully smirked.

"You're the idiot, Austin. You and Kaylie – wait, why am I explaining this? If you don't see it, then obviously you shouldn't do that just yet. But honestly, you and Kaylie are inseparable," Nicky explained.

"Remember when you and Kaylie broke up because of the douche, Brad Collins?" Max inquired.

"Don't remind me," I shrugged.

"No, listen to me. When you broke up, you became Mr. Kobalt. You even called Sasha a "dude" and you did the whole "See you later, suckers!" thing. Kaylie got in a car accident and we still don't know why. Do you know why?"

"I might know," I mumbled.

"Austin, spill. Now," Nicky ordered me.

"Okay fine. So you know she came over to talk to me right?" They nodded. "Well, I kinda said some things I shouldn't have."

"What did you say?" Max asked.

"I sorta told her that I never wanted to see her again," I sighed and then I felt two punches on my arms. "Dude, what the hell was that for?" I yelled while massaging my arm.

"Why the hell would you say that?"

"I was pissed! I didn't know what else to say. Who knew she'd get into a car accident," I defended myself.

"Well now you know. Anyways, she said "I love you" to you not Brad, when Brad was sitting right there. We were all there. Then on Monday we went to training, and Brad was gone."

"Yeah, that was me, too."

"What did you do, Tucker?" Nicky sighed.

"Remember when Kaylie said "I love you" to me? Well I was outside, just sitting there, waiting for her to wake up and I heard the whole thing," I confessed. "So the next day, I came back to tell Kaylie the truth because I knew Brad would twist it, you know? So I came after visiting hours to tell her and she knew I was telling the truth, because the next day, she broke up with Brad. He left me a note saying that he's leaving Boulder _and_ gymnastics. He's somewhere in Portland right now."

"Now you see what I'm talking about?" Nicky said; I gave him a confused look. "You and Kaylie can't be separated. Even when she was dating another guy, she was still in love with you. You guys got back together and well, do I have to do any more explaining?"

"I guess not, I see what you-" I was interrupted by my ring tone. I took out my phone and looked at the Caller ID. Fuck.

"Who is it? Is it the girls?" Max asked and I simply shook my head.

"No, it's Sasha," I mumbled. I sucked in a deep breath and pressed the _Answer_ button.

"Sasha?"

"_Austin, how is the break going? The girls having fun?"_

"Uh, yeah. We're having tons of fun. Thanks for the trip."

"_Can I talk to Kaylie or Lauren or Payson? One of the girls?"_

I looked at Nicky and Max and gave them a helpless look. "Uh, the girls are…uh," I stuttered. Nicky was pointing to the bathroom and it gave me an idea. "They're in the…bathroom right now."

"_All three of them?"_

"Yeah, all three of them. We're at a restaurant and you know; it's a girl thing. They never go to the bathroom alone."

"_Okay, but do you know why the girls' phone can't be contacted?"_

"Uh, their phones ran out of battery," I lied.

"_All three of them?"_ Sasha repeated.

"Uh…they forgot to…to…uh…charge their phones," I said and Nicky and Max gave me a _what-the-hell_ look. I shrugged my shoulders at them.

"_Oh alright. See you all on Monday then,"_ Sasha said and before I could say anything, he hung up.

"Crap, we have to be back by Monday, I totally forgot," I sighed.

"How are we going to find them in time? We only have four days," Nicky exclaimed.

"It's either we have to hurry up with this investigation or tell Sasha the truth," I suggested.

"Hurry up with the investigation," Nicky and Max said in unison. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, so what do we do first?" Max asked. We three just looked at each other, all thinking the same thing: _no fucking idea_.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: <strong>well, we hoped you liked reading this chapter as much as we loved writing it! the only thing left to do is...**_review! xx_**


	15. IT WAS ALL AN ACT

**Chapter 15**

_Tyler's POV_

"I think it's time we tell the girls," I said.

"What? Are you serious? They are going to hate us," Drew countered.

"Dude, we can't just say that we-"

"You idiots. I'm not that stupid to tell them what's been going on. I meant telling them how we feel about them. It's been two days. They're upset. Their boyfriends are out of the picture right now, so we make our move," I interrupted James. They both nodded in realization. God, why do I have to be friends with such idiots? But then, it's a good thing. They don't question me. They _follow_ me and that's what I needed. After all that we three have been through the past five years, this was definitely the _best_ thing that has happened to us: being with Kaylie, Lauren and Payson.

"What are we going to do? How do we tell them?" James questioned.

"Yeah, I didn't really think that far," I realized. So I haven't exactly thought this through fully. How do we tell them?

"I've got an idea," Drew said.

"Shoot," I told him.

"Well, you know how they're missing their boyfriends?" We nodded. "Maybe we could listen to their problems and everything and then hint them at first, but then at the end, when and _if_ they do cry, we tell them," Drew suggested. Huh. It is a pretty good idea. It'll show the girls that we care about them and want them to be happy. Maybe this would work and we would get the girls.

"Alright. Let's do it," I told them. We three got out of our room and headed towards the girls' that were down the hallway. We knocked on the door and waited for them to come open it.

_Austin's POV_

It's been two days. We still have no leads on where Kaylie, Lauren and Payson may be. Now, we're here, sitting side by side, nibbling on our fingernails, waiting for Officer Johnson to get off the phone. We've been here every day, worrying and hoping we would find _anything_ that would lead us to them. But, to our dismay, there has been nothing.

"Well?" I asked Officer Johnson when he got off the phone. All he did was sigh. "Anything? Anything at all?" He shook his head.

"My staff has been looking through the security video from the hotel, trying to decipher who the man in black was, but they are unable to ID him. Every single angle we've looked at, he was covered. We can't see his face, therefore, unable to know who it is," he sighed.

"Have you asked anyone if they've seen them? I mean, someone has to have seen them," Max said, feeling urgent.

"I'm sorry, but everyone that we've talked to near the shopping mall, they said they haven't seem them after that day. They're probably not in the city anymore."

"What? If they're not in the city, then where the hell are they?" Nicky screamed. I held onto Nicky's arms, restraining him from jumping out of his seat and break something.

"Chill," I told him. He relaxed back into the chair and I released my grasp on him. I turned back to the officer. "Can't you track them or anything?"

"Well, Austin, they're not exactly wearing _any_ tracking device," he chuckled. How can he be laughing in this situation? Well, he has a reason: his girlfriend is not fucking missing.

"Not to be rude or anything, but how can you be joking at a time like this?" Max said matter-of-factly. So I wasn't the only one thinking that, thank god.

"Sorry, but I'm confused," he said and we cocked our head to the side, trying to figure out what he meant. "You three, aren't you supposed to be, like, the king of hook-ups or something? I mean, aren't you guys like players?" Wow, this guy has the nerve to ask that question when we're in the middle of the crisis. What the hell? Might as well just answer him before he put us behind bars for shouting at an officer.

"Yeah. We are, I mean, _were_," I started.

"Then we met them and I guess everything changed," Max continued.

"Now I'm curious, explain," he said, motioning his hand telling us to tell him the whole story.

"You want our life story?" Nicky asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No, just how you guys changed from major player to the relationship guy."

"Well, long story short, they tamed us," Max said.

"I don't want the short story, I want the long one," Officer Johnson is very interested. He leaned forward against the table.

"Well, I guess those three girls didn't want a simple hook-up. They wanted something long and stable. At first, we were just after them for fun, I mean, come on, they're hot, who wouldn't want them, you know what I mean?" surprisingly, Officer Johnson nodded and was smiling. What the hell? "But then we got to know them more and more and we just fell in love with them."

"I can see that. You guys are _blinded_ by love," he said. What does that even mean? I can still see perfectly well. Whoever made that line must be weird.

"How are we blinded? I can still see everything," I declared.

"It's a figure of speech, Austin," Nicky explained. Oh, so that's what they mean by it. I nodded.

"So, when are you going to make them yours?" Officer Johnson asked. Make them ours? What?

"What do you mean?" Max asked.

"You six, well at least you three, are deeply and madly in love with them. And I mean _in love_ not the simple "I love you". So when are you guys going to permanently make them yours?"

"Oh you mean…" Nicky breathed.

"Yeah, as in "Will you marry me?" and a "Yes". So when?"

"Well, sir, we haven't even thought about it, let alone do it. The three of them, they are focusing on the Gold in the 2012 Olympics, I don't think they will even agree to it if we asked them," I explained.

"Listen, if they are _that_ in love with you as you are with them, they will say yes. It's just the matter of you guys stepping up to the bat and hit the ball out of the park," he said. Did he seriously just use that metaphor? Are you serious? We're gymnasts, not baseball players. Though, Kaylie's dad would appreciate it. We stayed silent and just looked at each other. Officer Johnson does have a point; we're in love. I don't know about Max and Nicky but I sure as hell can't live without Kaylie. Being away from her like this, even though it has only been two days, it's killing me inside.

"I guess I understand what you're talking about," I finally said, breaking the silence.

_Kaylie's POV_

Two days. Two. That's how long I've been away from Austin and right now, it's hurting. I need him to be here, holding me, telling me how much he's missed me. I miss him so much. We've been away from each other before, when he went to Asia, and look how it turned out. I fell for another guy, Brad _freaking_ Collins, and then he lied to my face. So I know one thing for sure this time: I will _not_ make the same mistake.

_Knock-knock._ I got up and went towards the door but Payson and Lauren still lying in bed, probably missing Kaylie and Austin.

"Hey," I said when I saw the three guys outside the door.

"Kaylie, can I talk to you?" he asked. I nodded.

"Come in," I motioned.

"Uh, I meant, privately?" he said.

"Uh, sure," I said and stepped out of the room while Drew and James went in to, I bet, talk in _private_ with Lauren and Payson. We went out to the backyard of the house and sat on the steps.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"How are you?" Are you serious? You get me out here to ask about how I am? Really? You couldn't do that inside? I gave him a confused look but answered him anyway.

"I'm fine, I guess."

"No, really, Kaylie. How _are_ you? As in, with being away from Austin and all that." Oh, so that's what he meant. Does he expect me to pour my heart out? But before I could do anything, tears were threatening to fall.

"I miss him so much it hurts. I've never gone this long without seeing him, except for that one time a few months back."

"What happened?" he seemed to be interested.

"Um, he had to go to Asia to promote Kobalt sunglasses and there was a guy, Brad Collins," I sniffed. "He was being so sweet to me, being there when I needed him because I didn't have Austin. Then I fell for him and I cheated on Austin with him. Austin saw and he broke up with me," tears were beginning to spill, I brought my hand up and started wiping the tears away. "Then I got into an accident and I figured I love Austin too much to let him go. Brad lied to me and I broke up with him. Then got back with Austin."

"Right," he stressed.

"Yeah, I just don't want it to happen again. If Austin left me one more time, I don't think I could handle it," my voice cracked. Just the thought of Austin leaving me has already brought me to tears and ached my heart. So what would happen to me if he _did_ leave me for real?

"Don't worry, don't cry, Kaylie," he said and turned me to face him. He wiped my tears away and looked into my eyes. "I'll always be here for you."

"Why are you being so nice?" I asked him.

"Cause I care about you, Kaylie," he replied.

"If you cared, then why didn't you _ever_ call me after that night at Le Privilege?" I just needed to know why. Why did he cut me out of his life?

"Kaylie, I-"

"I just need to know, Tyler. Please, just tell me," I interrupted him.

_Tyler's POV_

"I just need to know, Tyler. Please, just tell me," she said. I guess she does have the right to know. But I won't tell her _everything_ that has happened; just the things that was a necessity.

"Alright. After that night, I had some problems. Problems that I'm not comfortable to discuss yet. But when I am, you'll be the first to know. So because of those problems, I left and never called you because I didn't want to burden you anymore. You were on your way to become and elite gymnast and I knew if I made another move, you might have never become the gymnast you are today. I'm really sorry, Kaylie. I really liked you," I told her and pulled her into a hug. This was the time I have to tell her. I have to tell her _now_ that I still liked her. "And I still do," I whispered into her ears. I felt her tense almost immediately and pulled away from me.

"Tyler."

"Kaylie, I still like you. I may actually love you," I confessed.

"Tyler, no. No. You know I don't feel the same way," she shook her head.

"Yes, you do, Kaylie. I know you do."

"Tyler, I'm in love with Austin. You're taking advantage of my fragile state, like Brad did. But guess what? I'm not going to fall for it again," she said, attempting to stand up.

"Kaylie, I know somewhere deep down, you still have a soft spot for me. Please, just find it," I begged her.

"Tyler, I'm sorry. But between you and me, there's nothing left but friendship. Can't you just accept that and move on?"

"These past five years, you're all I could think about."

"Really? Then why didn't you bother to call me back?" she snapped and turned around and walked away from me. She had a point. I got up and ran after her.

"I told you, I had problems. But I will accept your friendship offer," I said while holding on to her hand. She turned to face me. Her eyes were filled with anger.

"All right, but if you make a move on me, even a itsy bitsy one, our friendship is over, got it?" she bargained. I nodded and shook her hand.

"We should go get the others and get ready for the bonfire," I told her while leading her towards her room.

"What bonfire?" she asked.

"They apparently do it every week. It's like a tradition or something," I told her and knocked on the girls' room door.

_Austin's POV_

"I guess I understand what you're talking about," I finally said, breaking the silence.

"Exactly. So are you guys going to take the risk?" Officer Johnson asked.

Before I could answer, my phone vibrated through the pocket of my jeans. I put my hand into my pocket, looking for my phone. I took it out and looked at the Caller ID. Sasha Belov. Oh shit. I answered it and immediately put it on speakers.

"Hey, Sasha, what's up?" I casually said.

_"Austin, why can't I contact the girls? And don't tell me their phones ran out of battery because I'm pretty sure they've charged it by now."_ Shit. I had no comeback. I looked at Max and Nicky and they had nothing either.

"Uh…they…uh," I stuttered.

_"Austin, I know something's up so what is it?"_ he demanded. Fine. I guess he should know the situation.

"Fine. We'll tell you," Max said as if reading my mind.

_"Max? Austin, am I on speakers?"_

"Yes, Sasha," Nicky responded.

_"What is going on?"_ I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and prayed that Sasha would not rip us up.

"The girls, well, they…uh…we haven't seen them in two days," I held my breath. There was silence on the other line. I looked at Nicky and Max and they, too, were holding their breath.

_"Austin Tucker! What the hell happened? What do you mean you haven't seen them in two days? Do not tell me you lost my gymnasts,"_ he demanded.

"Coach Belov?" Officer Johnson said before I could reply.

_"Who is this? Where are the girls?"_

"This is Officer Matt Johnson, from the Hawaii Police Department," he calmly stated.

_"Officer Johnson, uh, please excuse my temper. But would you explain what is going on?"_

"Two days ago, the boys here called us to inform that they think their girlfriends have been kidnapped. We've spent the past few days trying to locate them but so far, no luck."

_"Are you kidding me? I need my star athletes back. You will do everything you can, in your power, to find them as soon as possible!"_ Sasha commanded. I could feel his temper boiling.

"Yes, I will," Officer Johnson replied.

_"Have you been tracking their whereabouts?"_

"Sir, they are not wearing any tracking devices so I'm afraid we can't do that."

_"Well, is there another method to track them? Anything?"_

"There is an option to track their mobile phones-"

_"Then why don't you do that?"_

"Mainly because they are out of service range so we cannot pin-point exactly where they are."

_"All right, I'll leave you to it. Austin, Nicky, Max, I'll talk to you guys later," _Sasha said and immediately hung up.

"Are you serious that you could track their cell phones?" I asked Officer Johnson, feeling hope rise up.

"Yes, but we can't find the exact location because, as I said before, they're out of service range," he replied. I suddenly had an idea.

"Well, what if you track their phones to the last place they were before they got out of range? We can probably find them from there," I felt smart. I could see Officer Johnson thinking about it and then slowly, very slowly, nodded his head.

"I guess that would work. I'll go inform my sector and tell them to contact Houston to ask them to begin tracking," he replied and got out of his booth.

"Wow, who knew Austin Tucker was smart!" Nicky joked.

"Shut up, at least we have a chance of finding the girls now," I said and smiled.

_Tyler's POV_

We were at the bonfire and the girls were having a lot of fun dancing around with the local people. They quickly made friends with them and they seemed to be getting on well with everyone. I couldn't help but smile at the image. Even after us confiding in them about our feelings and them rejecting us, we still could carry on being friends without any awkward moments.

"Hey, I'm going to go talk to the leader okay?" I told Drew and James.

"Alright," James aid and Drew nodded. They turned back to watch the mesmerizing gymnasts circling the bonfire. I got up and walked towards the leader of the village.

"Tyler," he acknowledged me.

"Private?" I asked him and he nodded. He got up and we walked to a secluded area behind the house.

"What is it?" he questioned.

"I just want to say thank you."

"For what?" he was confused.

"For doing this. Despite what other critics may say, you and your group are definitely good actors and actresses," I told him.

"No problem and thank you, Tyler. Please do put in a good word for us with your father."

"Of course. I will force my dad into hiring your group in his next movie project. You are very talented. Although it must have cost you a fortune to build this village from scratch," I commented him.

"Oh, it was nothing. We got to see celebrities everyday. It's worth it and plus, we're getting a good deal out of it."

"That's right. I'll write you the check when the plan's completed."

"Good. We should be heading back before they suspect anything," he said and I nodded. We made our way back towards the bonfire and took our previous seats.

Girls, you do not know what you've gotten yourselves into.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> well, that's the LAST EPISODE in this storyy! 10 or more reviews and we'll post the sequel: A well kept secret :)

anyways, its the end of the SECOND week of school for us, and we all deserve a well-earned and relaxing weekend! EVERYONE HAVE AN AMAZING TIME THIS WEEKEND! HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

lastly, before you all go and relax - lucky peeps. i have a football practice tmr for Powder Puff; GO JUNIORS - please **_REVIEW! xx_**

**_GO JUNIORS. LIKE A '130SS._**


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